Darkness in Zero
by Yuuki Hikari
Summary: Years before the door at Destiny Island became unlocked, an apprentice of Ansem the Wise lost his way, and gave away his heart to darkness. A backstory of the inhabitants in Radiant Garden including Ansem, the first six members of Org XIII, Kairi, et al.
1. Eleven Deadly Sins

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**Darkness in Zero**

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**Foreword:**

Obligatory "spoiler" warning for all sorts of KH things.

"Darkness in Zero" is a "what if" scenario. Since Master Nomura has told us very little about events before Sora's adventures began, I thought it would be interesting to see how the characters developed into the people we came to know them as 'today'. I've used the Ansem Reports (or Xehanort Reports, as it turned out the KHI reports actually were), what little is known of Kairi's back story, and what flashbacks/information were available from KHI, KHIFM, KHII and KHIIFM+ to devise the timeline that the story will follow. I hope something was not overlooked – there was a lot to go through.

I hope you enjoy.

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**Chapter 1 – Eleven Deadly Sins**

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"Xehanort?"

The tiny voice did nothing but pass through the mental gears like a smooth breeze. A loose, right hand continued to add a dark shade to a figure etched in pencil.

"Xehanort?"

The sound came with a tug this time, and when the physical setting was disturbed, the young man jumped.

"K-Kairi," he slammed the notebook shut, concealing the evidence from a child that could not convict him of daydreaming, "what are you doing in here? How did you get in here?"

The child, idling at a height somewhere closer to Xehanort's knee than his hip, found herself swept off her feet when the frazzled scientist stood up.

"Grandpa's sleeping— "

"Asleep?" his brow wrinkled together as brown eyes took a careful look into a purple set that glowed up at him.

"—So I came and saw you."

Xehanort bounced the child onto his hip, pivoting on the spot to march her out of a room cluttered with more equipment and formulas that even this scientist knew what to do with some days.

"And you know that you are not allowed in here. Even if your Granddad isn't awake, that's no excuse for breaking his rules," Xehanort gave a look to the ceiling, rolling his eyes in the process, "you know, if Even had found you, he'd have spanked you until your behind turned solid red. You cannot come down here."

"Owie…" the pint sized child wiggled in her position, taking a firm grip on the white lab coat wrapping the man who began a swift ascent up the silver set of stairs, "I'm sorry."

"Yeah, big 'owie'," shaking his head, Xehanort cleared the stairs with a record pace, and continued his march down a short, but barren hall. A flat palm slapped the swivel door impeding his departure, giving it a hefty push as the pair charged through, "Kairi, I'll accept your apology only if you promise me you won't do it again."

"I'm sorry, I promise," the little girl's voice pouted, partially muffled by the collar she'd tucked her face into.

The child's weakened voice stopped him from storming through the basement halls of the great castle in Radiant Garden. Without a word, he pulled Kairi off his side and Xehanort crouched down, placing the red headed girl on her own two feet. After giving a tug to her white and purple-flower dress to straighten her out, he held up a right fist, popping out a pinky finger. He sat down a little lower on his knees to meet her eye to eye.

"I don't want you to get hurt or into any trouble, so do you really promise me?"

That changed _everything_ for the tiny girl.

Instantly, she seemed to forget how much his quick march out of the basement study had made her want to cry. And now, more delightful than having Xehanort's undivided attention, was the chance to make a child's most important type of promise with him.

With a pinky finger that barely wrapped around the man's she was linking with, the child beamed, "I really promise!"

"Good girl," Xehanort's left hand came around, ruffling her hair as she squealed.

Pushing back to his feet, the young man extended a hand for the wayward child to take.

"… Does your mother know you're here?" he narrowed an eye as she quickly took a strong hold of three of his fingers.

"Uh uh," the little girl, shuffling along alongside the body towering above her, "she said that Grandpa doesn't listen to her, so she said I have to say to Grandpa to get lots of sleep because she thinks he doesn't love his bed no more."

" 'Any more'."

"'Any more'. But! Grandpa is sleeping at his desk so maybe he loves his desk more, cause he's sleeping now."

Xehanort could only laugh at that thought, wishing he could rationalize life that simply, "Well, your Granddad has just been really busy, and I know your mother and grandmother are worried about him, but it's just been a busy month. Things are better now. So you can tell everyone that Xehanort says things are a-okay here. I'll take care of your Granddad, don't worry," the scientist gave a wink to Kairi before reaching an arm out for the approaching exit to his master's study.

"Okay," the child gave a nod that nearly knocked her off balance, "I'll tell Mommy that and that Grandpa is sleeping."

"And the world will be at peace!" with a firm grip of his left hand on a doorknob, Xehanort pushed open the door without a sound.

Barely two steps into the room, he paused, allowing Kairi enough time to toddle in to join him at his side. Sighing, Xehanort took a moment to gawk upon the growing mess in the master's room. Ansem's study had turned into a disaster over the last few weeks, and more paperwork laid thrown out across the room than at any point in during the whole escapade. Suggestions, hypothesis, theories, insights… they were all scrawled out in document after document.

The Darkness of the Heart. That's what they'd labeled the most recent folder. It was literally what they were trying to answer – a far more pinpoint investigation than simply Darkness itself.

Yes, Darkness and Light both existed, and True Light that the world once cradled was lost – no, laying dormant within the Darkness. Yet, it was the Darkness of the Heart that was far more frightening and quite possibly a key. Their paradise, Radiant Garden, could be protected from this outside threat of "Darkness", but the Darkness of the Heart was an internal concern, one that could develop without announcement or forewarning. Because the world was no longer engulfed in True Light, darkness could develop within a heart and no one would know it was happening. It could eventually allow True Darkness to descend.

The Darkness of the Heart in Radiant Garden was not a prevalent factor; it was almost safe to say it was not a 'present' factor. The purest water flowed through this world's veins; it cleansed the soul and everything thrived without hindrance. But, darkness was still a foe, and to ignore it would be the greatest downfall in a near perfect society would face, if those who knew enough to fear darkness choose to sit by idle and not understand this unseen and potential enemy.

Ansem the Wise, ruler and guardian of this utopia, refused to allow his world to fall victim to ignorance.

"Oh boy…"

Xehanort's shoulders sank, eyeing the elder sage passed out soundly with his forehead atop a pile of never-ending paperwork. Nervous eyes glanced around uncertain, before finally stepping forward to the master's desk. The apprentice's hand carefully reached across the papers and fell on the robe-covered shoulder of his superior.

"Sir?"

"Grandpa?"

Xehanort gave a light shake to the man's shoulder as Kairi chimed up.

"Master Ansem?"

The master startled, lifting his head from the desk with a shake and a stifled cough.

Stepping back, Xehanort gave a grin at his mentor, to which the elder man responded with an out of sorts and slightly embarrassed expression. The apprentice had been woken by this great ruler twice in the last week for falling a sleep at his station, and Xehanort felt it was somewhat appropriate that the situation was reversed.

"My goodness…" Ansem the Wise gave a swift tug at his collar, quickly gathering his composure.

Xehanort quickly wiped away the grin, and froze the expression on his face, "Sorry Sir, but something very important came up in the middle of my research."

Ansem covered his young apprentice with an intrigued look, "something important?"

Bending down, Xehanort grabbed Kairi under her arms and swung her off her feet. Carrying her over to the master's desk, he stood her upon it, "The Darkness is a bit perturbed that we've been researching so hard these last few weeks and sent a three foot spy to make sure we don't get too close to solving their riddles."

Beneath the lights of a well-lit study, Kairi threw her arms wide, "Grandpa!"

"Well, well, well, the darkness has gotten devious!" pushing up from his seat, Ansem rose from his napping station, reaching an old hand out to pinch the child's nose, "sending a child to spy on me, how disheartening!"

"We must be getting close if they're getting this desperate," Xehanort laughed.

The squeaking voice of Kairi joined the contagious laughter. Scooping her up and balancing her on his side, Ansem stepped around the disheveled desk, "And how are you today, young lady?"

"Good! I had ice cream!" piped the child as the two men and little lady stood at the room's center.

"Sea Salt?"

"Yeah!"

"Good grief, more people eating that…" Xehanort's hand came to his forehead.

"And yourself, Xehanort?" smoothing over Kairi's hair, the sage glanced over to his apprentice, watching as his brow rose at the question.

"Master Ansem, how many times do I have to tell you: 'I'm fine'," he gave a light shrug of his shoulders at that, "if anything at all comes up, I'll talk to Even, if not you first. Worry about your granddaughter this afternoon, not me."

Xehanort could provide no amount of reassurance that would satisfy Ansem the Wise. It had been three weeks since they'd started to implement the experiments on the willing participant. The orchestra of seven scientists had agreed: Xehanort's heart had sealed away part of his life. A part he had no realization or awareness of. It was as though he'd woken up in the middle of life one morning with no knowledge of himself, this world, or anything around him. What had been going on at that point in his life, no one could provide the answer to. But it was clear, his 'life' needed to be mended before anything else could be done for him.

His caretaker, Ansem the Wise, made certain of that he would make it through. Shortly there after, Ansem extracted the 'Xehanort' name from this white-haired teenager dropped on Radiant Garden's doorstep.

And while Xehanort recovered from his injuries, the young man absorbed Ansem's every word like a sponge. The he thrived off everything he was told, and could recall the knowledge weeks later at the snap of a finger. Ansem's most senior apprentice, Even, made a passing comment that it was as though everything they told him became second nature – almost like the information had been part of Xehanort's knowledge base all along, just simply locked away with the years of lost information.

It was then that the research of darkness turned to investigate the heart, and eventually the darkness within the heart. Were Xehanort's memories locked away in the darkness of his heart? Ansem invited Xehanort to join his apprentices, which later grew to an apprentice core of six.

Years after Xehanort had been taken under Ansem's wing, he'd risen to the ranks of most respected apprentice.

And when the opportunity came up to initiate experiments to delve deeper into the darkness of the heart, Xehanort volunteered without hesitation. Everyone agreed that his memories may be locked away in the darkness lurking in every heart, and because it was such delicate and dangerous territory to traverse into, it was the only area of the young man's heart they had not explored.

He was the perfect test subject.

What bothered Ansem though, was not venturing into the darkness of the heart, but venturing into the darkness within Xehanort's heart. Time and time again, the young apprentice defied his logic, and showed signs of expanding far beyond his current means. There were times where Ansem would only admit to the man in the mirror that his apprentice's potential unnerved him.

Something was locked away, but for what reason?

However, Xehanort's thirst for himself overcame Ansem's hesitations, and the psychological experiments digging into the heart were initiated. They were never mentioned outside of the circle of seven men, there was no reason to concern the remainder of the Radiant Garden.

And Utopia watched, unknowingly, while the foundations for ignorance were laid.

"We have a guest!"

The three sets of eyes turned over their shoulders towards the voice that had emerged from the doors Xehanort had crossed through with Kairi earlier.

"Braig!"

A grin crossed the war-torn face of yet another of Ansem's apprentices and Kairi provided the wide-eyed, cheerful greeting to the white-coated scientist.

"Hey there chickie, not often we see you down here," the man sauntered across the room, stepping through the clutter as though he had the floor mapped out in his mind, "special occasion?"

"She just stopped by to say 'hi'," Xehanort gave a light wave of his hand to the additional body in the room.

With a monstrous, lunging step, both of Braig's hands landed over Kairi's head and did their best to displace as much of the child's short-cut hair that they could, "Here's a Hi from me, kiddo."

The men laughed as Kairi shrieked at the attention, but Xehanort's voice was cut short when Braig's hand came down on his shoulder.

"Master Ansem, I need to borrow this guy for a while. I have a few things I need to clear up with him from trials this past weekend."

Smoothing the child's hair, Ansem gave a hesitant look to his two understudies, "You know I prefer to be party to discussions about these matters."

Braig swished his hand through the air, dismissing the concern his master attempted to express, "It's nothing major, just dotting I's and crossing T's. It should only take a few hours and you can take your granddaughter home."

"Grandpa can see my new dollie!" Kairi bounced in the man's arms.

"No offence Sir," Xehanort's words were accompanied by folded arms and a reassuring grin, "but you can't be Mother Hen all the time, and that includes my experiments as well."

Taking a firmer grip of the wiggling child, and releasing a sigh, Ansem gave a reluctant response, "There are times when I do not want any of you to be correct. Sadly, this is one of them."

Braig laughed, "I have one mother, and that is quite enough, thank you!"

"Very well," Ansem the Wise's voice carried with an amusement that echoed off the marble ceiling dome above his study, "go fly off from my nest and be sure to be back by curfew."

"Curfew?" Xehanort's expression contorted.

"One out of Two ain't bad, I suppose," Braig gave a wink to Xehanort, grabbing him at the upper arm, and wiggling his fingers at Kairi for a farewell.

Without another word between them, both the master's and child's voices disappeared as the two men vanished behind Ansem's heavy study door and Braig shot a curious look to his associate, "Did you have a curfew way back when?"

"Hah, no," Xehanort strode forwards, sliding his hands into the pockets of his long, white lab coat, "besides, before I got into this, anything I was old enough to do closed before ten o'clock."

"You're making me feel old, boy."

"_Boy_?" Xehanort scoffed, more amused than offended, "I swear some of you still treat me like I'm seventeen."

"Hey, there's a few of us who can date ourselves to you," Braig rolled his eyes at the thought, taking a few hasty steps to catch up to the apprentice wandering ahead, "It's like a magazine headline: 'Where were you when the unknown soldier appeared!?' Something like that, anyways."

Perhaps it was always how Braig presented himself that left Xehanort laughing at nearly everything he said, "You make me sound like a circus. So, where _were_ you?"

Braig stopped, his arms folding across his chest as Xehanort's pace slowed, glancing over his shoulder.

"Asleep."

"You were asleep?"

Shrugging, Braig picked up his stride once again, "Trying to sleep. I had the worst hang over. But, we had to commemorate one of the finest hunting expeditions in the last twenty years somehow."

Xehanort's head rolled to the wayside as he returned to the forward march from moments earlier, "You, Sir, have never changed."

"Now, that's the way you should address your elders all the time!" the man's hand slapped over the shoulder of one of the most aspiring minds to ever grace Radiant Garden.

And their conversation fell into dead silence.

Without another word, they diverted into an alternate hall, walking in uneven rhythm through a lengthy, winding corridor. Both men's feet echoed with a dull sound off the metallic surface they crossed.

"Actually," Braig's voice rose, "we have a little problem."

"Problem?" Xehanort slowed.

"Maybe."

The younger of two men frowned, knitting his brow together, unimpressed that he may to have to dig to get information.

"And it could be a big problem. I've never seen Ienzo quite so… how should I say… frazzled, I guess," Braig's hand came to his chin.

"… About?"

Flicking his hand, Braig encouraged the companion to keep walking with him, "He had to do some modification to the disposal room about an hour or so ago. The balance of the heart within it changed."

Xehanort's pace quickened; this conversation was not in relation to the experiments Ansem had conducted on him, but the experiments Xehanort himself was conducting.

Ansem the Wise, though they all acknowledged him for his insight and intellect, was reserved when it came to investigating darkness within the heart. He withheld his power, his knowledge, and abilities leaving only mediocre experiments to fall into place, according to Xehanort. Every aggressive action Xehanort proposed was rejected by never-ending concerns.

This was safe, Xehanort insisted. If you were to understand the darkness, you couldn't be afraid of it. You had to make it stand next to you. It may even be possible to have it bow at your feet. The darkness can sense what is weak, and that's what it targets.

And, unbeknownst to anyone, he would attempt to prove this.

Yet, as the hearts of men crumbled in a room locked and hidden away from his master's eyes, the revelation came about that the heart was, in fact, weakest to the darkness. Darkness could be extracted from a person's heart more times than not, but what remained was frail, brittle and unstable. You could not create a strong, pure heart – to obtain something like that, it would have to have been devoid of darkness from the very beginning. Of the ten men that had fallen from experiments in darkness, not one of them had a strong enough heart in which to cultivate darkness. Darkness simply consumed them, and the heart collapsed within the body.

Would there end up being no way to understand how darkness functions within a heart?

"How does the balance of a heart consumed and collapsed by darkness change?"

"That's what we wanted to know," Braig offered no more than that.

"I don't understand what you're going on about."

The two men drew to a halt in the middle of the corridor, and Braig placed his hand against the chilled wall, releasing one of the entrance doors to a basement section unknown to their master.

"You should take a look for yourself."

Xehanort hesitated a moment before heading in. His companion's words had sent a chill down his spine that he had been unprepared for. It was not very often he entered into his own research laboratory concerned about the contents of what he'd find.

But, he could not afford to be afraid of the darkness.

At the bottom of the staircase, Xehanort stopped – the eyes of the additional four associates fell upon him.

"Where the hell have you been?" Even's voice lashed out at the arrivals.

"We're _all_ in here?" the comment fell from Xehanort's lips with mounting concern.

Braig slapped the stalling apprentice in the back, "Yeah, it's a big ole part-ay, and you're the guest of honour, young Sir."

"Braig, how can you even make a joke like that at a time like this," Dilan turned over his shoulder, snapping at his associate's laid-back behaviour.

Rolling his eyes, Braig gave little attention to the stressed companion, "I'm lightening the mood, we've been treating it like the world is coming to an end."

Ienzo's hand slapped to his forehead, "It could very well be. Xehanort, you're going to want to take a look in the disposal chamber, I don't know what is going on."

The scientist, who had barely traipsed into a room saturated in a stressful aura, stepped towards the metal doors of a room they had labeled "disposal" – for lack of a better term. It was the room he'd asked Ienzo to create in order to house the failures caused by experiments on the heart; the ones that Xehanort had spent a desperate and frantic string of days and weeks trying to revive without success.

"What did you do to the door?" Xehanort narrowed an eye.

"The twerp sealed it magnetically before the bloody things could escape, that's what he did," Even pointed a finger at the youngest of apprentices in the room, only to receive a bitter glare from Ienzo in response.

"What else was I supposed to do? They merged with the floor like a shadow or parasite. They were going to sneak out under the door if I didn't do something."

Standing before the reinforced structure, Xehanort slowly turned over his shoulder to look upon his associates, "Open it up, I want to have a look."

"Congratulations Xehanort, you get the Bad Idea of the Day award! I think I should pin that one on your ass."

"Shut up, Braig," Dilan blurted with a slap upside the head for the man before returning his attention to Xehanort, "just look in from the observation deck."

"No, that won't do," Xehanort turned, surprising his companions. There were very few times his eyes lit up with such a child's curiousity, "I want to see it clearly."

"'They', you mean," Even corrected, "there's more than one of 'em. I stepped in there and nearly didn't get out."

Xehanort's expression tightened, growing more desperate to know what had his companions up in arms, "Either way, I still would like to— "

The man never finished his sentence – spinning sharply on his heals as Ienzo released the sealant on the door.

"If they escape, you have to find some way to catch them. I am not responsible," the youngest of six apprentices said flatly.

"Be careful," Elaeus slowly folded his arms across his chest, "you don't know what they are."

"None of us do," with a firm grip, Xehanort took hold of the chamber door handles, "that's what makes this exciting."

Even threw his hands up into the air, "Exciting? This is not a game, young man!"

Xehanort grinned, pushing into a room congested with cold, stale air, "Sometimes, I beg to differ."

Clearing the entrance, the man's arms fell to his sides, allowing the doors behind him to swing shut with a monstrous echo. Xehanort never imagined he'd wish he'd installed lights in this room. The room was not much more than a metallic canister, the only light gracing it came from the observation windows above. The man travelled no more than three feet from where he'd first entered.

The thunder brought on by the closed doors did not seem to vanish.

Why was there was no one here…?

The chamber was empty. How could this be? He'd placed people in this room himself.

The sounds of the scientist's shoes and friction of his pant legs grew into the room as he stepped away from the safety of the exit and the pounding of his pulse slowly developed between his ears while trying to put fear aside. Literally, he'd closed himself in a disposal room destined for darkness.

At the sound of a banging fist coming from an observation window high above, Xehanort jumped, glancing up at Even. It was when his gaze returned to the room that he saw the shadows upon the floor move – had they always been moving? With stutter steps left and right, he avoided the blotches that moved around him. Finally, in mid-movement, the man's body froze. His startled gaze shot wide – even with his own eyes, he could not believe what he was witnessing. Quicker than he could have believed possible, the shadows staggering out of the floor took a three-dimensional, physical shape. Nowhere in this scientist's mind was an explanation fitting for what he was witnessing.

Xehanort backed himself into the chamber wall.

Never had he seen such a creature – a tiny, black, stumbling being approached him with a swiftness he had not expected from something so clumsy looking, and the scientist scrambled away.

There were four, six… nine?

They all rose from the floor and approached him with aggressive speeds. He darted away again, and again, trying to ascertain what on earth he was dealing with. The young man's heart raced. These things reeked of darkness; this room was filled with it, yet he knew – almost instinctively – how to step away from all eleven.

Eleven? May it have been a gut feeling or just simple intuition, but something within Xehanort told him that these creatures were related to the room's human inhabitants. If these creatures represented the previous tenants of this container in some way, then there had only been ten people in here originally.

A discrepancy of one.

Although the dance Xehanort performed to avoid the creatures flowed naturally, a rising concern led to the man taking a direct line for the door – he had no answer for why this room stank of darkness or to how an eleventh had ended up in the scene. Leaving the creatures behind in his wake, Xehanort threw his hands against the exit doors and exploded from the room. Tumbling to the floor upon hands and knees, the man took a moment to catch his breath, listening as the doors crashed shut behind him.

"Barrier!?" he gasped.

"Done."

"Why were there eleven?" Xehanort blurted as Ienzo's magnetic seal solidified.

"We have no idea," Elaeus responded, "but ten of them appeared when we entered the room, and then attempted to follow us out."

"They merged with the floor and would have slipped out unless we further secured the room," Ienzo added.

"I offered the creatures one of our trial subjects, and it distracted them long enough to get Even out and the barrier erected," Dilan cast an eye upon Even as the eldest of the group rolled his eyes, "And by the time we'd looked in again, the man we had left to them had vanished without a trace."

"It was as though the creatures devoured that poor soul," Braig nodded, his gaze falling back upon Xehanort.

"And the bodies of the others?" Xehanort's gaze ran around the room.

"Vanished, without a trace," was the response.

"Is that it…?" with the eyes of his companions cast upon him, Xehanort rose to his feet, turning to look upon a chamber that once represented a gut wrenching failure in all of their lives, "Is that what happens to the darkness in a weak heart?"

There was no response for such a theoretical question, and Xehanort pointed a finger to the door, which now lead to a crowing and disturbing achievement.

"This is what I created!?"

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**To Be Continued…**

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**Author's Note:  
**  
Imagination gone wild. Most pertinent information was covered in the foreword.

I don't have any evidence to support a relationship between Kairi and Ansem the Wise, but Kairi was a resident of Radiant Garden, and a Princess of Heart. Whether or not she was an actual "princess" in title, I don't think we've been told. If she were a princess in title as well, that would make her related to Ansem the Wise, since he was the kingdom's ruler. Kairi had memories of her Grandmother in KHI, and the woman possessed a great deal of knowledge about the history of Light and Darkness – it'd make sense that she'd have some relation to Ansem the Wise. I thought it would be interesting if Kairi played a part significant enough for Xehanort to have chosen her to be sent to another world (asper KHI Ansem Report 11).

Xehanort, at the moment, is pre-darkness. I would expect that his personality would reflect something more jovial. Riku turned into a cold zombie for Maleficent before his head came out of the clouds, I would suspect Xehanort was pretty amicable himself before he became lost.

I know the KHII Ansem Reports spell some of the names differently than I did, but I liked the spellings that matched the Org XIII anagrams.

That's all for now.


	2. Limitations of Time

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**Darkness in Zero**

**Chapter 2 – Limitations of Time**

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The warm light creeping over the distant hills at sunrise soothed nothing. No amount of the glowing horizon made up for the sleepless night, the mounting guilt, or gut wrenching indecisions.

On a ledge within walking distance of the Postern-side balcony, overlooking the end of this world, a wavering mind sat, emptying his thoughts into the yellow lake in the sky spread out before him.

"You look like a child who can't find his puppy."

Xehanort's head lifted from its lazy position, carrying a tired gaze around to find the source of a familiar voice.

"Down here," the man rattled his knuckles off the cement blocks that enclosed the castle, "don't fall, it's a long way down."

"What are you doing up this early?" Xehanort's gaze carried back out to the sunrise, "I thought politicians lived a life of luxury."

The guest below straightened his coat, lacing the buttons through the loops down the front of a spring coat, "I was in bed early last night. I got up not so long ago, thought about having something more involved than toast and cereal for breakfast, opened the bedroom curtains and saw the figure of a friend I haven't seen in far too long."

The listener's shoulders began to sink as the companion spoke.

"Where the hell have you been?"

"Wherever I've been, I think I may have drowned there."

The grounded companion, barely senior in age to his friend, leaned his back against the shaded cement wall, "How do you mean…?"

There was no answer. The two men existed in silence in each other's presence, neither moving from their spot nor spurring on the other into conversation. Finally, the man who'd intruded on the others troubled sanctuary pushed away from his post, and dragged his feet back towards his home.

"If you're interested, you should come over for dinner tonight. My girlfriend is cooking."

Xehanort's brow rose quickly, his attention suddenly distracted by the comment, "Your what? Since when? For how long?"

With hands in his pockets, and his figure partially immersed in the light of a rising sun, the long-time friend, Isa, looked up to his companion, "My girlfriend, who came along at the steakhouse dinner I invited you to and you skipped. We've been together for nearly as long as you have been avoiding me."

"… Right," the slightly younger of two friends turned his gaze back out to the skyscape, "I can't come to dinner, I have some things I need to take care of."

"Do I get to know what that might be?"

Xehanort's head shook, "Isa, of all the people I've known since I found myself in Radiant Garden, there's no one I trust more than you to discuss this with. I need you to believe me when I say 'I can't'. I don't even know if I can talk to Master Ansem about it."

"That explains enough," Isa gave a nod of his head, turning away again, far more content than when he'd started, "when you figure out what you're going to do, come give a knock on my door, and we'll go out and celebrate."

"I'll do that, thanks."

"And get some sleep," the voice called back, "you look like a wreck."

"Later…" Xehanort murmured into sunrise.

He was a wreck. And he was terrified, more so than he could admit. But, it was not the darkness lurking in the depths that terrified him – no, that excited him. Xehanort looked at himself in the mirror and questioned why these shadows of people's hearts consumed by darkness made him feel giddy, like a child dissecting a new toy. The man Xehanort saw in the mirror every day, despite how he questioned his motives, did not frighten him either. What frightened him was Ansem. This wise, elder mentor, who'd cared for him when he was at his worst, and treated him like a son there after, had to be faced.

So badly, Xehanort wanted to work side-by-side with this man, and have him see things the way he did. More importantly, he wanted Ansem's respect, his praise, and to hear the man's voice commend him for venturing where no others would. He recognized that the feeling was selfish, but he wished for it none the less.

Xehanort wanted to show him his work. These dark shadows lurking in the basement. There were so many theories, answers and suggestions he wanted desperately to brainstorm with the wise sage.

How in the world was he supposed to do that now? How do you explain where 11 of these creatures came from?

'I used your precious subjects.' Was 'I'm sorry, I didn't mean for this to happen' supposed to suffice?

The first one was simply an 'accident'. The others happened when Xehanort and the apprentice group frantically scrambled to find a remedy of some kind to salvage hearts ruined by darkness.

Can you forgive a man for destroying so many hearts? Can you forgive a man not born into your world, that you came to the aid of without ever being asked, for destroying your loved ones?

And in the end, all of their hearts were lost.

It was done in the name of science and research with the hope for a greater society. Did the ends honestly justify the means?

And how had he done it? By using every idea he'd known the master would reject. Xehanort knew Ansem well enough he didn't even have to bother asking, the answer was 'no'. In essence, he had betrayed everything Ansem the Wise had tried to enforce upon his understudies.

This society would exile him.

There had to be some way Xehanort could save face. He had worked so hard up until now, and who knows what Master Ansem would do with the knowledge. Discard it? What a travesty. What he had for the ruler of this kingdom was knowledge of the heart far beyond anything they could have hoped for.

The results were mysterious, fascinating and beautiful creatures. What was it about his perception of darkness that allowed him to see the results in such a positive light?

A folder had been prepared. Xehanort had cradled it in his hands and fondled it all night long. This folder of information was not a deception, it was a down-play. The information he would present to the master, if he could ever coax himself off this ledge, was barely a skeleton of what he'd accomplished until now. Documentation riddled with hypothesis after hypothesis for things Xehanort hoped and prayed Master Ansem would accept. If he could start the wise man down this path, then maybe he would eventually draw him close enough where the shadows could be revealed.

He was not lying to his mentor. A boldfaced lie to Ansem the Wise? Xehanort did not dare consider it. He was simply taking his time explaining the situation. No matter how long that would end up taking, he would let his master know the truth.

And someone would tell him—Ansem would tell him, 'Xehanort, thank you for being brave in the face of Darkness, when everyone else had been afraid. You've saved the world that once saved you.'

His hands gripped the foundation etched out within the folder and pulled himself from the warmth of the early morning light. A fair amount of time had passed since Isa's departure and the world was bound to be alive and thriving by now.

Xehanort could walk the path through the castle to Master Ansem's private study in his sleep. The corridors and hallways were no longer the maze to him that they use to be. He would ignore the nervousness, ignore the stress and simply walk into his master's study and let the day unfold. There would be no other way to handle it.

He nearly flew.

But Xehanort stopped at the final door. His hand gripped the doorknob, suddenly hesitant to turn it. He was so confident thirty seconds ago, heck five minutes ago, and now all he had to do to confront this man was simply turn the knob…

"You turn the handle first, Xehanort."

He jumped, spinning on his heels to the voice behind him.

"And then you enter," the kingdom's ruler looked on at his apprentice, a mild grin present, "knocking is usually the preferred first course of action, however."

Xehanort almost let out a sigh of relief, "Sir, I need to discuss some things with you."

Ansem moved forwards without a sound, his feet hidden beneath the floor length robe, "Did it keep you from sleeping well? You look a bit bedraggled, Xehanort."

"I'd be lying if I tell you there wasn't something bothering me," the younger man shook his head, opening the door for his master, "it's fairly important."

Ansem passed the apprentice, moving into his study. A hand came up and unclasped the robe over his shoulders. Placing it over his chair, he waved an arm encouraging his guest to venture towards his desk, "Shall we call it a morning of truths? If that's the case, I have a few things to share as well," sitting down, Ansem watched the concern bubble into Xehanort's expression.

"I'd like to hear you first, Sir."

Ansem's fingers laced together, his hands coming to rest on a tidied desktop as he took a seat.

"I've been wanting to mention this for quite a few days, and I apologize for not bringing it up sooner. I know you're disappointed with me about the pace we're taking the explorations of your heart, I can tell by your reactions, and lack there of. I respect that you're a visionary; you clearly see the fifth and tenth steps that you want to accomplish, and you're frustrated that I want to answer the first and second steps before opening my mind to something so far ahead."

Casting his gaze around the room, Xehanort did his best to avoid eye contact with the man. He did not want him to see in his eyes how deep his frustrations had grown, "I guess I can't really make it a secret that I'm feeling impatient."

"Your heart guides your emotions, Xehanort. I can understand those feelings can't be helped. The heart is interesting that way. But, I need you to understand that these answers will come; time is not an enemy of ours and we have no reason to make it one. I want you to understand, that when it comes to dealing with such an unknown realm, something we have never encountered before or know what form it may take, that it's best to move with caution. I promise you, you will have what you seek when the time comes to see it."

Could this have been made any more difficult, Xehanort wondered. His eyes glanced aside, he did not dare speak – the things he wanted to say clashed with his master. Re-gripping the folder in his hand, his free palm reached out, snatching a chair idling at the side of the room. At the front of the desk Xehanort sat himself down, his eyes not lifting to meet his master's, simply focusing on the document in hand. Placing the blue folder on the desktop, he turned the writing right-side for his master. With the tips of his fingers pressed against it, the apprentice slid it across the table.

It was quite possibly the most grueling hour that Xehanort had ever sat through. An interrogation without words. Neither man spoke to the other, and Master Ansem did not even flinch an eyebrow at any detail. It took an eternity. The only sound Ansem made was the barking response to the knock on his study's door, ordering the visitor away.

Finally the folder, open wide with papers spread, returned to the desk and the master sat back in his chair, a hand rising to his forehead.

"That is… quite a piece of work."

"Thank you, Sir."

"Xehanort, let me ask you," Ansem's hand ran through his hair, "if we were to attempt to segregate the darkness from the light within a person's heart, what becomes of it?"

"Of the darkness or the individual's heart?"

"Of either."

There was nothing Xehanort wanted to do more than blurt the known answer, but he could not. How could he justify his answers without revealing everything?

"I would theorize that perhaps each may take on separate characteristics – the characteristics of their 'pure forms'."

Ansem shook his head at that, "Which we most certainly will not be doing at this time. Releasing darkness into this world on it's own accord without knowing what we'd be facing would be a catastrophe. But as the heart sits right now, with shards of darkness in the light, how do they interact?"

"They're harmonious."

"Indeed," sliding through a few papers on the sheets presented to him, Ansem's train of thought rolled along, "so, where I am at right now is investigating the stability of this harmony. That's what we are doing when I investigate your heart. So far, your heart has proved to be strong, the light and darkness are in check. But, if we were to cut the chunk of darkness out of the harmony, can the remainder recover from such a loss?"

"The human body can recover from losing an appendage. We adapt," that was the 'sure' logic Xehanort had walked into his first experiment with, "if the leg becomes cancerous and we remove it, then the body as a whole becomes healthy again. It thrives. It lives a much longer, fruitful life."

"We are also sentient, logical beings with a body, heart and soul. The heart is a component. Take this," Master Ansem reached down, unlocking a desk drawer and producing a round, rubber ball and placing it on his desk, "take Kairi's bouncing ball and imagine it to represent a man's heart. If it were to have flaws, or if I were to remove a portion of it, it would loose it's balance and form. If it was an inflatable ball, and I were to remove the 'cancerous' part of its skin, the balloon would deflate."

Xehanort sighed, taking the ball from his master's hands, "But the heart, full of light and darkness, is not a red rubber ball. Like you said, it is a component. It is mammoth. It is part of our essence of being. There's nothing to say that the heart won't heal or that you can't provide an artificial brace so it can become whole again after darkness is removed."

When in fact, there was everything to say the suggestion wrong.

"At this point I am not comfortable toying with people's lives, Xehanort, unless I have worked my way up to this step and understood how I got there. There is no room for error when you toy with the heart. You know that. What happens to the part of darkness we segregate? Can the light in the heart recover from what kept it in balance? Is it fragile like a balloon or adaptable like a man? We do not understand our hearts well enough to proceed this far without those answers."  
_  
But now I have those answers. Our hearts are weak and frail. We're sad creatures._

"Until you map out the path we have to take to safely investigate this further, Xehanort, I'm sorry, but this is unacceptable."

"With all due respect, Sir," Xehanort's hands twitched in his lap, "what happens if the only way to find those answers is to tamper with the heart itself? My concern is that the answers we may be seeking may not be answerable through external processes."

Ansem gave a nod, "Then once we have exhausted our resources, we can examine other courses of action. But until then, we'll gather all the information we can and prepare ourselves. Xehanort…" the sage rose to his feet, leaning over his desk to gather the paperwork into the folder, "when the time comes, these insights may be quite valuable. But now is not that time."

With his head lowered, Xehanort rose from his seat, reaching an arm for the documents Ansem held out for him to take, "I'll keep it at my station for a more appropriate time."

"Don't lose heart, Xehanort. You're a brilliant young man," the arm Ansem had extended with the folder reached across the desk and patted the man on his shoulder, "my entire crew is. Though, on that note, have you seen Ienzo much in the last few weeks? He stops by my desk with documents, takes my books, returns my books, offers me a bagel on his way downstairs and that's all I get to see of him."

"He's keeping busy," Xehanort tucked the folder away under his arm, "you know how he gets, a train of thought hits him and he rides it until it runs out of gas. He'll derail eventually."

Ansem nodded in agreement, folding his arms in thought, "Any idea what he's neck deep in?"

Taking a deep breath, the younger of two men looked off in 'thought' as he tried to concoct the most reasonable explanation, "If I've learnt anything from Ienzo by now, is that he's not going to preempt himself by telling us what it is unless he's certain he won't disappoint anyone."

"This is very true," Ansem laughed, "I remember another young apprentice of mine once acted in similar fashion. Too afraid to share far-reaching hypotheses, such as the segregation of the heart, to his master or associates."

Xehanort shook his head, turning towards the corridor that would take him away from this room, "He is a bit more calculating than I in that regard."

"Send him my regards, Xehanort," Ansem called after the man as he exited the room.

But, the scientist was storming through the castle halls, his blood boiling. His ideas had been rejected. They had been turned away. There was no alternative now other than to hide the research from his master. Worse than that was how so many of the flaws Xehanort had faced in the experiments, the ones he had ignored because he wanted to believe the heart was strong, had been extracted and thrown back in his face. How foolish. How ignorant. How humiliating. Master Ansem had been able to identify some of them without even knowing the truth.

His hand slammed against the wall and the scientist vanished into his secret recluse. The man's feet thundered across the metallic floor like a bull charging through the streets. His face was hot and he could feel it. Throwing open another door, Xehanort blew into the Disposal Room like a hurricane, coming to stand at its center. His eyes cast around furiously. That console to his left, the keypad at its side, that embedded monitor in the wall, that flask filled to its brim… all the equipment, the tools, and knowledge that had been and could be dissected – could it be good for anything? Master Ansem would reject it on principal. And then there was the contents of _that_ container. The embodiment of everything that should not have happened.

How did Xehanort see it as such a giant leap forwards?

The folder's edge Xehanort had gripped crumbled as his fist tightened. With the roaring, vocal release of his frustrations, the papers were sent flying across the room.

"Temper tantrum?"

Xehanort gaze shot up, slowly clearing the snarled expression, "Excuse me?"

Ienzo sat atop the narrow staircase leading to the highest most observation windows. He slouched over his knees, an arm draped across his legs while the other perched a hand at his chin, "Shall I cheer you up?"

"I did not ask you to live down here, Ienzo," Xehanort snapped, "do I have to make excuses for you to Master Ansem to explain what the hell you've been doing?"

"Testy today," the young man swept the hair out of his face, only to have it fall back moments later, "you should join me up here. Eleaus and I were brainstorming last night while you were off finding a way to save our hides. I take it you didn't succeed?"

Straightening his posture, Xehanort narrowed a threatening gaze up to Ienzo. He did not need this little man rubbing salt into the wound, "We will find another way. Did you two find a way to destroy them?"

"No," Ienzo slid back from the stairs, rising to his feet, "it doesn't seem we have the means to do that quite yet. So we took some liberties and tried to see what else there was to discover."

"I told everyone to refrain from any experiments until we knew exactly what we were dealing with!" the master apprentice's voice raised, shouting up to the young man who did nothing but look back down upon him with a smirk.

Xehanort stopped himself from going any farther, his attention fixated on the look in the eyes of the one looking down upon him.

"You said that this darkness was fascinating, did you not? You had never expected to find it exciting and alive. Even thinks you're a sick bastard for voicing those thoughts. Isn't it funny how he's made no attempt to deny those feelings himself. But, I've watched over this mess you've made since it first began. You said that I was the one most able to excuse himself from contact with Master Ansem, and that's why you wanted me down here. So, I've watched over your darkness, I've poked it with my stick, I've played with it and kept it 'safe' while you did your song and dance. Now, I have something to show you, but I request your permission. Do you care to come up here, Xehanort?"

It had to have been the way Ienzo conveyed his message that gripped Xehanort by the throat and lured him without hesitation. It gave him chills… no, not that… it was an adrenaline rush that ran through his veins as he scaled the stairs.

With the snap of his wrist, Ienzo ushered the senior apprentice to the window where he'd made his perch for days.

"What do you see here?"

"A cell containing those beings."

With the slow nod of his head, Ienzo rattled his fingers over the glass, "Eleaus and I were brainstorming. At some point we came to realize that these creatures have made no attempt to increase their numbers. We haven't the means to determine if they are sexed or sexless, or if they can procreate or spawn. I believe the general consensus is that they behave more like a parasite – at least that's what can be inferred from how the eleventh got there. Never the less, we have nothing solid to base this off of. They've responded to nothing we've thrown at them, no stimuli we've produced, only reacted whenever Even ran in to retrieve the things we'd cluttered up the container with."

Xehanort's train of thought derailed slightly, "Didn't he swear that he was never going in there again?"

"He drew the short straw," Ienzo shrugged, "in any event, the one thing we did know was that there is a factor that seriously hinders our results, since all of our initial experimental subjects were male."

A few scattered pieces that would answer his questions fell into place. There was no need to ask, Xehanort knew – he knew their minds too well, "You didn't retrieve anyone from the township?"

Ienzo shook his head, his hands gripping the thin ledge at the bottom of the viewing window, "You ordered us to refrain from the township. Dilan found someone from the outskirts. He tried to choose someone no one would miss or link back to us. The experiment simply needs a body – the status of the heart is insignificant for this trial. Since this is your brain child, with your permission…"

"I did not want to involve women or children," Xehanort's voice came out cold and flat, "Does she know why she's here?"

Ienzo responded with no more enthusiasm than the man next to him, "No one's told her. We've simply collected her for part of the investigation of the heart that you may want to explore. She can be sent away without a word and without knowledge of any of this. Truth be told, I'd rather send her away, but the choice is yours."

Xehanort sighed heavily while his hands came up and ran through his hair. This disaster could spiral out of control at any moment, "If they are able to create offspring, and we throw a female into the mix, they may start multiplying beyond our control. And if they are a type of parasite, then this would expose a multitude of answers."

Not bothering to respond to something they were all aware of, Ienzo stepped away from the window's edge. He slid himself back against the metallic wall of the observation deck, watching his respected elder through lazy, passive eyes.

"This would be easier if I wasn't human. If I didn't care for everything that could be lost… that has been and will be lost by all this," Xehanort placed his right forearm against the glass and tightened his jaw.

How was he to justify this? Was it fair to society to proceed forwards? Was it fair to the men who had been lost to not proceed? Their lives had meaning – the mountain of information their sacrifices had provided was unprecedented, yet if no one were to explore any of it, it would all go to waste. In time, it could save their children, and their children's children. What sort of justice could these scientists give to those men's lives if they did not make use of the goldmine their lives had provided?

Morality was a heavy factor, and Xehanort turned away from the glass window. He walked past Ienzo without a word; his head lowered and his pace slow as he moved to the pathetic metal staircase that would take him away from having to deal with this decision.

Ienzo's brow rose only slightly, watching the man stop without taking the first stair.

Never departing from the high perch, Xehanort's eyes cast out into the main operations area. His hands gripped the edge of the entrance to the upper level he stood upon. Lowered eyes took in the scattered mess of paper that he'd thrown across the room in a rage. What an unwelcome reminder of everything. He couldn't look away from all the frustrations and disheartenments no matter which way he turned.

Master Ansem would never approve of anything here. Unless they could destroy everything, including the dark creatures, it would be only a matter of time before everything would be discovered or someone would have to reveal it. Xehanort had made 'time' an enemy of his.

Straightening his back, Xehanort never stepped off the platform. His hands swept over his shoulders, pushing his hair over his back.

"Does anyone know her name, Ienzo?"

"I haven't bothered to inquire. Dilan may know, but he made no mention of it."

"Send her in there," Xehanort looked back over to the young man, his arms folding across his chest as he moved back to the heart of the observation deck, "and don't make it a habit to find out their names in the future, either."

If time were limited, then the most would be made of those precious moments before the sand in the hourglass ran out.

* * *

**To Be Continued…**

* * *

**Author's Note: **

I figured that Saïx was probably someone Xemnas knew before becoming a Nobody. Saïx is pretty loyal to him, more loyal than any of the Nobodies who were Number VIII and above. It would make sense, since he's the first Nobody outside of the first six scientists and he's a well behaved lackey, that the two knew each other in Radiant Garden.

I hit up the Internet to figure out just what sort of significance the umlaut in Saïx's ' ï ' had for his name. Basically, it's nothing more than a reading indicator (you pronounce the I separate from the A, rather than making an AI sound) one that's not commonly used in the English language (obviously). So, if you rearrange his name, you don't necessarily need it (depending on how you want to pronounce his name), and if it's the first character of his name, you probably don't need it. So, for simplicity sake, I'll use Isa for Saïx's name, and because the rest of the combinations just didn't seem right.


	3. Shadows of Existence

**Darkness in Zero**

**Chapter 3 - Shadows of Existence**

* * *

Sundays had always been days off, days of rest, days of family, days of peace. But the last three, and now four Sundays, were like every other Monday or Thursday. Six apprentices arrived between 8AM and 11AM, but today, much to Ansem's surprise, the one who was normally the first ended up being the last – for what ended up being a sound reason.

Ienzo cleared his throat, "My mother insisted on making you breakfast."

Ansem tired his best not to laugh, "She certainly keeps me well fed."

Pulling the aluminum lid off the large dish he'd been reluctantly sent to work with, Ienzo presented Master Ansem with an expanse of pancakes, eggs, bacon, sausage, hash browns and a sealed half-liter of orange juice.

Master Ansem soon put an end to the silent moment of awe that had been created over the piping hot display, "I- I don't think I can eat all that."

"You don't have to," Ienzo's hand came to his forehead, "Eleaus is the only person I've ever seen finish it all off, and she's doted on him ever since. I'll offer leftovers to everyone if you can't finish."

The laugh Ansem the Wise gave could not be helped, Ienzo's mother was one of the most overbearing women he'd encountered, and her gift to most was her cooking. Ienzo had some how come out of this woman's loving arms as the most level headed and well spoken young man he'd ever encountered for someone his age, "Your mother is something to behold."

"She's…" the youngest of the apprentices inhaled, his hands held out as he readied an explanation, only to drop the posture and shrug his shoulders "…. She's Mom."

"Send her my regards," Ansem grinned.

"And when you're done with your breakfast and lunch," Ienzo gave a motion to the tote bag he'd left at the corner of the room when he'd first entered, "I have things to discuss with you."

Narrowing an eye, Ansem balanced a fork in his fingers, "Is this bribery?" he waved a hand over the food, "are you bribing me?"

The young man flustered at the accusation, "N-no! My mother did this! I had nothing to do with it."

"I'm teasing, Ienzo, calm down," Ansem laughed, "get yourself together and we can talk right now over breakfast."

The young man's head tilted, "While you're eating…?"

"I am a multi talented individual, food does not occupy my ears," Ansem announced as he took a knife and fork to the meal, "talk to me now before you disappear into my own building and I don't hear from you again for a week."

Somewhat bewildered over the offer of a work discussion alongside a meal, Ienzo reluctantly snatched his tote bag from the edge of the room and pulled up a chair. Coming to a seat before his master and the mountain of food, the apprentice watched for a moment as his master indulged himself in the massive dish. Slowly producing a folder from his tote, Ienzo glanced ahead to Master Ansem as the elder man ate and paused for a few moments, trapped in thought. Without a prompt, the young apprentice quickly stood up.

"Sir, the information I have for you needs you to look over it – in hand. If you'll excuse me, I'll come back when your hands aren't occupied."

Master Ansem's right eyebrow rose his mouth partially full, "I get the distinct impression you're trying to run away from me."

"No Sir," Ienzo's response was nearly emotionless, "but you're busy, and I could probably tidy up my information a bit more anyways. Enjoy your meal, I'll be back."

"Sit down, young man."

"Yes, Sir," and without another word, Ienzo returned to the seat.

Snatching the complementary handkerchief from the meal plate, Master Ansem cleaned his hands and gave an inquiring look to Ienzo, "It's not like you to bring up a subject and then back out of it so quickly. What are you so eager to run off to?"

Ienzo quickly realized that the moment of silence he'd given as a response was far too long. He didn't know how best to put it into words, so he simply shook his head and gave a reply that his mentor would understand, "Maybe I'm just anxious. Perhaps nervous." From within the folder he'd produced, Ienzo pulled out the top page and handed them over to his master.

Taking the sheets from Ienzo's possession, Ansem's expression slowly faded away into deep concentration, "What is this?"

A stiff breath led off Ienzo's explanation, "Up until now, Sir, we have been working within the same confines that we always have been. But our work has taken us to new places and new beginnings with a multitude of unprecedented paths. I've been talking with Xehanort in great detail the last few days--"

"… About?" Ansem asked cautiously.

"About his visions. Xehanort is a visionary, a little rash and impatient, but a visionary. And I think you can agree that someday, possibly very soon, we will be at a point where we can expand on not only our goals but his visions as well."

Cautious with his verbal footsteps, Ansem's eyes returned to the diagrams presented to him, "I don't doubt that someday we will reach the points Xehanort invasions for the experiments on his heart."

"Let me ask you, Sir. Are we ready to go there?" Ienzo inquired, leading the conversation.

Ansem's eyebrow rose in silent question.

The young man continued his preaching, "This is science. Science moves in strange ways sometimes. Are we ready to meet these goals? What happens if we arrive at our goals and are stopped because we were not prepared for the future? We should have the necessary tools in place so that when we do find ourselves going down these paths, we don't have to stop and ensure we have everything available for our success. What if we get moving and don't have time to stop? What becomes of our experiments then? What catastrophe could be released due to our poor foresight? We have no guarantees."

"And this is your solution?" Master Ansem eyed the diagram. It was a facility, a monstrous research facility, etched out on an oversized sheet of blue-print paper, every detail written in with perfect precision. Every area had been labeled and every person's station planned out.

"No, it's not my solution. This is my safety net," Ienzo answered with an affirmative nod, "I understand that we may neither be ready to move into these areas or educated enough to understand what may lay ahead, but at least if these facilities are constructed and prepared, then we can be ready to move without delay with whatever we may learn."

Ansem paused, looking over the massive blue print, folding it out from the smaller sheet it had been given to him as. He was hesitant; this proposal came on the heels of Xehanort's presentation. The wise sage didn't want to think that his students were attempting to steam roll him in some way, considering it was out of character for the two people involved; Even was the impatient one.

"Sir, I can't imagine the kind of catastrophe we could create if we are ill prepared to deal with what we're striving for."

The boy was right. He had an uncanny knack for being right, "Ienzo, you said you'd discussed this with Xehanort…?"

"To an extent, yes," the young apprentice brought his free hand to his chin, "he's been running in circles since we started looking into his heart. He's excited, and rightfully so. I mean, how many people have the kind of history, or lack there of, that he does?" Ienzo placed the folder, inclusive of all his notes and work, into his mentors hands, "we do have to prepare ourselves though, since we don't know what we're dealing with. And this will help."

Unlike Xehanort, who had given him a proposal of action, Ienzo's was a proposal of preparation. Yes, he could not deny that preparation was key, the darkness of the heart was an unknown foe and it could take turns at a moments notice. Who knows where he, his family, his loved ones or his kingdom would end up if none of his apprentices had the ability and resources to combat an unknown foe?

Setting the handful of papers down at the corner of his station, Ansem clasped his hands at the edge of his desk, looking up at the steadfast young man standing before him, "I'll take my time and look over it, see what may be needed for modifications, and I'll let you know what I think. It never hurts to be over prepared," he glanced to the folder, "though, it seems a little rambunctious for where we're at now."

"We have the most time now to deal with the set up and construction," Ienzo pointed out.

"I can't argue that," Ansem could only grin, the follow up sentence that the young man had left out was one of the sage's favourite finishing lines: 'there is no need to make time an enemy.' With the eventual shrug of his shoulders, Ansem the Wise released Ienzo from the conversation, giving a jovial wave of his hand encouraging the young man to run off to whatever he intended to do that day.

With a victorious grin, and a hand swept up to his chest, the apprentice gave a bow and took a hasty exit from his mentor's quarters. He vanished; not a look back, not a second thought given to the master's following gaze as the door shut behind him.

The young man's feet swept over the cement flooring after only a few short strides – in flight like a bird, he ran, feeling no need to pause for a gasp of air.

Yes, he had been well prepared to win over Master Ansem's favour for this project, despite his indecisive appearance once the discussion had gotten underway, he had wanted to deal with the issue and be done with it. Never once had he entertained the seeds of doubt that his mentor would reject the proposal. There was no reason for it. He wouldn't argue that it looked like he was following up on Xehanort's bold movements earlier in the week; the fact of the matter was that the facility had Xehanort's fingerprints all over it. But, unlike Xehanort and his risky behaviour, Ienzo presented something entirely safe, and Master Ansem was exceedingly cautious. It was an excellent match.

However, the young man found himself with a very strange feeling once he'd entered this great building. He'd become anxious – extremely anxious. Not about discussing the subject matter, but about being in this space. He did not want to be in Master Ansem's study, he wanted to be elsewhere.

Once freed from the wise man's chamber, the understudy flew away at top speed. He never questioned the excited feeling in his heart that led him so quickly, the relaxing sensation of being within a room of horrendous atrocities awaited him. As much as it disgusted him on a humane level, he liked being there.

At the final door of his ultimate destination, the apprentice smoothed his coat, ran a hand through his hair, caught his breath, and pushed the door to the room of experiments open.

Upon opening the door Ienzo's arms fell to his side – how anti-climactic, there was nobody to be seen.

His hands came up to his slender hips, and the young man looked around, trying to identify if anyone had been in the room at all today, or not.

"Ienzo," a burly voice called to him, echoing in the room, "you're late."

The young man looked up to the viewing platform where Dilan stood carelessly, giving a lazy motion of his hand for the boy to come up and join him.

"Where is everyone?"

"Off doing what they're supposed to be doing," Dilan announced, reminding the young man that this 'project' was not what Master Ansem had requested they occupy themselves with today.

Rolling the comment off his shoulders, the youngest apprentice sauntered into the room and made his way to the stairs leading to the observation platform for the disposal chamber, "Wasn't Braig setting up some sort of simulation with Even on how to test the levels of predominant darkness within a heart? Mid-week we're supposed to use those results and perform the trials on Xehanort, correct?"

With an affirmative nod, Dilan looked down at the young man as he began to scale the staircase, "You have your safe guards for that in place I hope?"

"Finished the other day," the boy looked up, giving a wink, "it was easier than I thought, considering I have all this nonsense going on. It's actually taught me a lot and made the process easier."

His eyes reached the platform and Ienzo moved to take the final steps up; however, he stopped mid motion – the young man's eye catching the quiet figure of Xehanort seated on the metal floor. His chin resting on his arms that were placed on the low ledge of the oversized window, his nose nearly pressed to the glass, his legs folded, and lab coat tucked neatly beneath him. It was like seeing a perfectly perched cat observe the nest of birds beyond a transparent barrier.

"Um…" Ienzo tilted his head, "someone looks content."

"He's been like that for hours," Dilan nearly laughed, "you can see his invisible tail flailing around."

"Well then," Ienzo brought himself onto the platform, "I guess that's fine, considering he's been miserable pity-pot all week."

"You know, I'm _right here_, Ienzo," Xehanort quipped.

"And I'm just a figment of your imagination," he replied with a grin.

Shaking his head, Dilan's hand came down on Ienzo's shoulder, "How did it go with Master Ansem?"

"Fine," the answer rolled off his tongue casually, "there's no reason to deny its necessity. I would expect to hear back with his recommendations in under 48 hours. I can't see much being changed."

"Good, we don't want t—"

"Hey…"

Both standing apprentices looked to the seated Xehanort, somewhat startled by how the man sat back, folding his arms across his chest and allowing an enlightened expression to overtake him.

"I know…" the man gaped at his faint reflection the glass window, "that's what it is!"

"What 'what' is?" Ienzo blinked.

"Xehanort?" Dilan looked over to Xehanort as he stood up and straightened his jacket, "about the proposal?"

"No," Xehanort grinned at the pair as he swept past them, "that's not what I'm talking about." He left his two companions in-wait as he clambered down to the main level, "Where'd those pages go?"

Ienzo and Dilan peered out after the man like curious children, exchanging glances as Xehanort went on a quick raid of the documents laying about their disheveled laboratory, "Pages?"

"Hah! This is it," as quickly as he'd swept through the room, Xehanort was back up the stairs, past his companions and reseated – this time with pen and paper in hand.

"Talk to us, Mister," Dilan took on an interrogator's tone.

Waving his hand, encouraging the pair to have a seat next to him, Xehanort pulled the two into his wildly adventuring train of thought.

"So how about this," Xehanort paused, pen and papers in his lap, waiting for the two to be seated – Ienzo on his right, Dilan on his left, "we decided to call them 'Shadows', didn't we?"

Ienzo looked off in thought, "Even called them that, and we adopted it."

"Minor detail," Xehanort waved a dismissive hand, "our first ten came into existence because we had collapsed the hearts of individuals. There is no question there. Since they came to exist, we've added five live specimens into the chamber, and now there are fifteen Shadows. They don't procreate like we do; they're more like a parasite. There are both men and women now in the equation so we can rule sexual orientation out."

Both Dilan and Ienzo lent Xehanort their ears, uncertain where he was taking the line of thought. These were factors that had become known and established over the last few weeks, it was nothing new.

"So, the first ten came out after we'd collapsed hearts. They do not appear to show any characteristics of the heart, they appear to react on instinct alone, and that instinct is to replicate. They lack feeling and emotion. For each test subject we've placed in there, the individual appears to have been robbed of their heart, their body vanishes, what's left is the shadow of existence, and the shadow comes to life. These shadows are essentially heartless."

Dilan cast an inquisitive look over his companion, "Where are you going with this?"

"So, that's what we'll call them: 'Heartless'. These creatures are shadows without hearts," Xehanort gave a firm nod of his head, folding his arms across his chest with the declaration.

"If I lose my heart, I turn into that?" Dilan asked, eyeing the stumbling black shadows within the disposal room.

"Yes," Xehanort replied, his eyes locked into the same black chamber as his companions.

"And you're certain about that?" Ienzo questioned.

A playful smirk crossed Xehanort's face, "Want me to put you in there to find out?"

Recoiling and curling his nose, Izeno rejected the offer, "I thought I told you I was a figment of your imagination."

"Then it won't hurt, will it?" Xehanort grinned.

"Have you watched what happens to a person from the time they enter until the time this creature comes into being?" Dilan asked, folding his arms over the window ledge and locking a dangerous eye into the chamber, "You haven't, have you, Xehanort?"

The conversation came to a grueling halt. A response was not readily forth coming – it would be assumed that a man who engaged in these experiments had the strength to watch every detail of it as well. Xehanort did not want to see that occurrence. To watch a man become devoured by an unknown creature without knowing why or his ultimate fate would be horrific. For him, the thought was utterly frightening and his stomach churned at the thought. He'd willingly sent four additional subjects to this fate and turned a blind eye each time, as though he were denying that the event took place. Ignorance was bliss.

But what does a man look like as he loses his heart? Does he cry for help? Does he understand what is happening to him? Is he in pain? Or does he simply cease to exist?

Acknowledging that he had the slightest bit of curiousity for these answers made him feel like some deranged, mad scientist. How do you distance yourself from reality as you watch a man's life end? He carried a fair amount of pride and joy from what he'd come to learn off of these experiments, but who enjoys watching a man perish? What kind of sick bastard takes his pleasure from that? He was ashamed enough to begin with that he was using Master Ansem's precious subjects for his snowballing quest, how on earth could he live with himself if he stood there and watched these people vanish?

There was an emphatic wish in his soul that insisted he never witness such an event.  
There was a fragment of curiousity that wanted to see it as well.

"Have _you_?" came Xehanort's almost a childish retort.

"No," Dilan replied.

"I have made a careful attempt to avoid this as well," Ienzo raised a hand, excusing himself from such an exercise.

Xehanort sighed, leaning away from the window, "Has anyone?"

"Nope," Dilan again responded.

The lead apprentice in this madman's adventure could only give a laugh, laying his back down against the cold, metallic perch, "Aren't we a group of pathetic fools. Afraid of our own research."

"We're like murders in a way," Ienzo dropped a cruel term nonchalantly.

"Ienzo," Dilan's voice broke in flatly, "you are doing a piss-poor job of being a figment of our imaginations."

Shrugging his shoulders, the youngest apprentice gestured to the laid back Xehanort, "I said I was a figment of _his_ imagination, I made no mention of yours."

"Then I'll tell you, you suck at it," Xehanort grumbled.

At that final quip, Ienzo rose to his feet, brushed his lab coat clean, and stepped over the laying scientist as he made his way to the staircase that would take him away from the conversation, "I think it's time I take my leave of everyone. It's been great sharing your company this morning. Please feel free to re-enter the real world for some complementary Sunday breakfast courtesy of my mother. I'm sure she'd be delighted to know everyone had something to eat."

"Oh, breakfast sounds good," Dilan slowly followed the departing apprentice, eager to exit this conversation, keeping tabs on Xehanort's lack of movement out of the corner of his eye, "you coming?"

"Nope."

As Dilan and Izeno made their way off the platform without another word, they watched their resting companion run his hands into his hair, targeting a bristled gaze at the ceiling. Upon the ground, both apprentices held their gaze high, almost in anticipation of a sound or a voice that would dictate their next movements.

Nothing came.

With the flick of his fingers, Ienzo led Dilan out of the room, feeling the rush of wind carry their coattails as the door shut behind them. The pair moved through the halls, marching without a word between them, heading above ground to the other life they played with.

"There'll be sixteen little, black 'Heartless' creatures in there tomorrow," Ienzo stated, his steps coming to a halt before he'd exited this sinful domain.

"I know," Dilan sighed, slowing his pace but not stopping as he spoke, passing Ienzo as he moved along, "he can grapple with morality on his own though, that's his responsibility."

The youngest apprentice folded his arms, casting his attention back down the miserable hallway they'd marched through, "I kind of want to go back and see what happens…"

"No you don't," Dilan stepped back towards Ienzo, grabbing him at the upper arm, "you want to lead me to breakfast. Unlike you, I wanted to be here on time and wasn't able to fit a meal into the dash out the door. You spend more time down here than anyone anyways, even Xehanort. Come out, get some air and show your elder where breakfast is at."

Ienzo stifled a laugh, shaking his head as he stumbled around the man hauling him to the surface, "'Elders' are certainly cranky when it comes to the subject of food."

"Watch your tongue, little boy," at that, Dilan tossed the stumbling apprentice down the hall, listening to him laugh as the younger man meandered on ahead, both deliberatly releasing themselves from the burden growing beneath the castle.

* * *

**To Be Continued...**

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Whoops, this sorta got neglected for a while. That happens.

Something I came to realize the other night, after seeing the new trailers the other week at TGS, my time line for this fic is skewed (which I didn't know at the time I started writing). The way I've written the fic, the entire story takes place a few years after Terra, Ven and Aqua but before Xehanort becomes a heartless. Riku and Sora were shown to be around 6 or 7 years old in BBS, while this fic sets Kairi's age to be around 4 or 5 years old (making her around 2 or 3 when Xehanort "arrived"). I can't fix this XD;; so I'm just going to roll with it.

And just for the record, Xehanort is a mental basket case over what he's doing (and it's shown just a bit), but it wasn't as predominant this chapter because I was trying to follow Ienzo around, rather than Xehanort.

Finally, I received a very nice review from an anon named "Shingo the Pest". Thank you! I'd let this fic become forgotten when you'd given that reply, and I rather enjoyed writing it. For your questions, I do believe that there is a connection between Terra/Xehanort, an extremely significant one. The only one who knows for certain exactly what it is, is Nomura ;). Though, I'm going to insinuate it, but not elaborate on it too much. I chose 17 for Xehanort because of the Terra connection (and to me, Terra has a 17 feel). And yes, 'Xehanort' was the name the "unknown soldier" could remember, but not necessarily his actual name. Braig being asleep was just due to the alcohol LOL. As for Xehanort being able to navigate amongst the moving shadows, I don't believe at this point they're going to think anything of it. His 'natural' understanding of the darkness may start to trigger questions amongst his group though. Still toying with ideas on how/if certain things will come out though.

Glad the fic has been well received!


	4. Addiction

**Darkness in Zero**

**Chapter 4 - Addiction**

* * *

Warm sunlight flowed in through the sheer curtains and open windows. A light breeze carried the floor length drapes freely across the ground. An indistinguishable sound of life laughed faintly beyond the panes of glass and screens; people's voices faint and jumbled into nothing more than background noise. An unidentifiable sound would jet in from time to time, and traipse through the mind that slept in this day's peace. The sound could not be precisely pinpointed, but it was recognized as familiar and simply dismissed.

Laying on his side, Xehanort shifted and buried his face a little more into the pillow.

A whisper alive in his heart sought out a deity to thank for allowing his mind to exist in peace and permit this moment of rest. He hadn't had many of these moments recently.

He shifted again, curling up a little where he lay, reluctant to exit this sanctuary. An eyelid cracked open, wincing as the weak gaze took in a vibrant orange light. He gave a tug to the thin, yarn-knit blanket over his shoulders, pulling it up over his head – though something in his arm inhibited his movements. The attempt to shield the light was futile, the blanket's knit pattern allowed for as much airspace as it did fiber.

Maybe, if he relaxed, he would simply ease back into that empty state.

His mind snapped back to attention, feeling the blanket lift off his head and cheek, though he did not open his eyes to find out why. The blanket came back down again shortly and that set his thoughts off on a rambunctious race. Lifting his arm to displace the blanket, Xehanort peered out from beneath it.

Kairi's index finger came to her lips, "Sleeeeep."

He was almost tempted to take her up on the offer. Instead, Xehanort sat up, knocking off the square baby blanket – something only large enough to cover his head and mid-torso. He fumbled a moment with the mystery item that had been tangled in his arm, catching a stuffed brown bear by its ear before it could hit the ground. Wide eyes stared back at Kairi, utterly bewildered.

"You got up," the child exclaimed, stating the obvious.

Xehanort handed Kairi's stuffed animal back to her, his alert gaze slowly canvassing the area. Dressed only in his lab pants and dress shirt, he had embedded himself upon the couch in the alcove adjacent to the family room. An array of toys were spread over the centerpiece rug as Kairi kept herself entertained, and although Xehanort looked and listened, no one else seemed to be around. Scratching his cushion-marked cheek, the apprentice looked back at the toddler as she retrieved her rainbow-coloured blanket discarded at his side.

"You feel better?" she asked, trying to catch the ends of her blanket so it could be folded.

"Was I feeling bad?" his mind still groggy, Xehanort posed the question with whatever natural innocence he had left. His hand reached out, giving Kairi some help with her folding task.

"Grandpa said you've been kinda funny and thinks maybe you don't feel so good," she answered, eventually releasing the blanket to Xehanort, watching as he neatly folded it for her, "then when Grandma brought me to the house and you were sleeping here!"

He gave a light laugh to the statement, smoothing the folded blanket in his lap before handing it back to her, "Well, I do live here."

"But you don't live in the couch," she exclaimed, reclaiming her possession.

"True…" Xehanort folded his arms, leaning back where he sat. His brow tightened, trying to reconcile his day thus far. He tilted is head, looking up to the ceiling, "So, I was still awake, I saw the sun rise, I had a headache, then your grandparents woke up and asked me something. I was too tired to talk, and I came over here because it was away from everyone… and…" his gaze came down, falling over Kairi with a playful tone, "then you woke me up, Missy."

"I'm sorry," she puffed her cheeks out at the statement.

Xehanort laughed, reaching out to pull her up onto the couch, "Don't be. Where're your grandma and grandpa?"

"Grandma took Grandpa on a walk," the child was unsatisfied with the sofa cushion he had placed her on and crawled her way onto Xehanort's lap instead, "she said Grandpa was being fussy and needed to be taken for a walk."

Xehanort blinked at the mental image Kairi had given him – it sounded more like 'Grandma' was walking the dog than anything else. He shook off the image, letting Kairi wiggle her way into his lap. The young man toyed with her hair as the child settled down, "So, who's watching you?"

"You are."

"Oh," Xehanort rolled his eyes to the corner of the room, "a mighty fine job I've been doing."

Wrapping his arms around the little body warming his lap, Xehanort gave her a squeeze and Kairi squealed. Pulling her in against his chest and slouching forwards, he tucked her mop of red hair beneath his chin and held her there, casting a tired expression into the rug at his feet. She was always calming to be with. Lately, he could be in her presence and feel free of the leering eyes full of doubt and accusations that his imagination tried to convince him were there. Kairi seemed to release him of that and it kept is nerves at ease.

"What's your Grandpa being fussy about?" Xehanort reluctantly asked. The question burned from the tips of his toes to the back of his ears.

"You and things."

His shoulders fell; he'd thought as much. Xehanort wanted this escapade to be over. No, he didn't want his experiments to end or the research to stop – he wanted the deception to be over. Each day something new would crop up, something exciting, something extraordinary, yet each day he told Master Ansem about the mundane: those mundane psychological tests that had started. At this point, they felt like such a waste of time that he wanted to roll his eyes to it all and spend his hours at far deeper depths of the castle. At least Ienzo's proposal had been accepted, minus some irrelevant modifications, and soon a facility more becoming of the type of work they would soon be doing would come into existence.

With each day that came and passed, and each report Xehanort and his colleagues presented, he wondered if Master Ansem could see right through what was going on. Logically, there was no way he could. The apprentice understood the wise sage far too well; if there was something that he doubted, the old man was never afraid to confront any of them. The truth of the matter was, Xehanort had gotten extremely good at standing before his mentor, the man he respected the most, looking him in the eye and lying to him about his activities.

"Maybe he should be fussy about me," Xehanort voiced the thought aloud.

It was disconcerting and Xehanort recognized this error, yet he'd managed to find a way to block out the nightmarish thoughts of what would happen if Master Ansem found out what he had done. It wasn't as though he was doctoring anything presented to Master Ansem, the information he _did_ present was accurate, he was simply conducting private research on the side. Private research that had everything to do with the 'actual research' they were doing, if only he could find some way – some back door into the Sage's thinking that would allow the apprentice to bring this dark secret into the light…

Xehanort's thoughts were cut off by the single cuckoo of the cuckoo-clock mounted high on the wall. His gaze carried over to the interruption, eyeing the placement of the arms on the clock-face. Half-past…

"FIVE?" Xehanort bolted up, Kairi still wrapped in his arms, "IT'S HALF PAST FIVE!? In the afternoon!?"

Dangling in his grasp, Kairi could only tell the time by how much closer it felt to dinner than the lunch that had passed, "Maybe?"

Xehanort's expression twitched in horror of himself, "it wasn't even eight this morning when I sat down. I slept the whole day and no one woke me up!? What the hell are they thinking!!"

Practically dumping Kairi to the ground, the apprentice released the child and stumbled around the sofa, clambering away. Nearly knocking himself off balance, Xehanort skidded across the hardwood flooring in his socks as he bolted out of the room.

The little girl waited a moment without a word in his wake, allowing the dust to settle at his exit. Slowly Kairi stepped out from behind the towering sofa with her plush bear now in hand, and she looked out into the widened room. Her gaze following his exiting path through the sunlight that showered down from a few glass panels in the ceiling of the family room.

Xehanort's tornado blew back into the room. He yanked the ends of his hair out from the grey, v-neck sweater he'd pulled on and danced himself in circles as he searched for the other sleeve of the lab coat he was half dressed in. Side stepping Kairi as he staggered back into the alcove, Xehanort did a quick sweep of the area, searching for anything he may have forgotten. Finding nothing of relevance to his projects, he again darted back towards the large double doors that led out of the main room. They slammed as he passed through, his fingers barely touching the handles, as though his moving presence sucked them shut behind him.

Kairi slipped out of the alcove and stood barefoot in a warm, sunlit square upon the flooring. The brown, stuffed bear she'd tucked into Xehanort's arm as he'd slept was now firmly wrapped against her chest.

The apprentice tore a strip through the castle, descending staircases in leaps and bounds. Assistant's and attendant's eyes in the castle followed him as he ran by without a word, only letting them see the white tail ends of his coat as he passed.

The easiest way to the study and labs was VIA the Postern, and Xehanort burst through a clattering of patio screen doors as he barreled his way through the complex. Nearly flying through the exterior paths, he soared through the Postern, skipping steps and nearly stumbling into walls as he re-entered the structure and attempted to navigate the corridors. Bursting into Ansem the Wise's study with as much grace as a Neanderthal, Xehanort skidded to a halt in the empty room.

Dropping his shoulders and throwing his head back in disgust of this day, Xehanort dumped himself in a chair. Master Ansem was no longer here. Rolling his head around as he slouched forwards, Xehanort's hands gripping his knees as he attempted to catch his breath. The empty room could be explained away by the time of day, but that excuse was most certainly not going to explain Xehanort's absence for the entire day to anybody.

However, the young man did not have to rise from this respite, people with questions came to him.

"Good morning, sunshine!" Braig's voice emerged before the man did, soon followed by a very ornery looking Even.

"What the hell have you been doing all day?" snarled the eldest scientist, "you were honestly face-planted in sofa cushions?"

"Sorry," Xehanort slapped his hands over his knees, unable to produce any type of excuse beyond the honest one, "I was sleeping."

"Do you realize how much pacifying I had to do with Master Ansem to get him to believe that you sawing logs at noon had _nothing_ to do with my psychological tests being too aggressive!?" Even's voice lashed around like fingernails on a chalkboard, waving his hands in the air in annoyance.

Xehanort nodded, not wanting to incite anything; he had no leverage available to diffuse an issue, "I shouldn't have stayed up all night, it was my mistake. I will clear things up when I see Master Ansem. I don't think he knows that I kept myself up all night to begin with."

Braig laughed, patting Even on the shoulder, "See, I told you he had a reason for sleeping all day," curious for a further explanation, he continued the questions, "what the hell were you doing all night? You've pulled all-nighters before and it's never knocked you out like that."

It was then that the exhausted face Xehanort had vanished, and in its place were the blueprints of a satisfied smile, "I made a revelation last night," his hands came off his knees and he lifted them into the airspace before him, "one of those epiphany moments. I was too excited to sleep."

What slipped his mind in place of the excitement, and what was not mentioned in his eagerness, was the sheer fright that was almost equal to fascination he'd felt in the late night. The fear had brought him to the floor without a word at some dark hour past midnight, but the excitement kept him from sleeping.

"Where'd Master Ansem go?" Xehanort glanced around the room, looking to ensuring that no unwanted ear would pick up on his conversation.

"The Misses came by and collected him about fifteen or twenty minutes ago," Braig shrugged, folding his arms at the expected bombardment from the headmaster of their foolish adventure.

Sweeping over to the exit door, Xehanort turned the lock and spun back to his two listeners. His hands slipped into his lab coat pockets, "I was incorrect about something."

Even shook his head, eyeing the young man through a narrowed gaze, "That's not something you should be proud of."

"I added an entry to my report for the revelation," dismissing Even's statement, Xehanort's gaze took off to the corners of the ceiling as he tried to recall the notes he'd placed in his mock Ansem Reports, "What percentage of possibility could we give to the idea that the Heartless are not only creatures created due to the collapsing of a heart, but actually a representation of a physical form of the darkness in a heart?"

Both men listening rose their brows at the question.

"You're calling them the embodiment of darkness?" Even inquired further.

"Maybe. Something like that," Xehanort paced a slow circle around his master's study, "we've all seen what happens: we place a living being in the chamber and the Heartless are attracted to it like leeches. They absorb something from every prey they conquer, at which point the person vanishes and the black Heartless remains."

There was no denying the study they had all witnessed by now. In the days that had passed since Xehanort first crossed the decency line he'd drawn himself, an enticing curiousity gripped every other member of the group. The seeds of intrigue were planted and could not be removed. The Heartless group sealed in the basement was now two-dozen, a figure that resulted from each relentless craving to discover every bit of what these dark creatures were. It was addictive.

Xehanort continued to circle the room, his steps moving in time with his thoughts that slowly fell in line, "The Heartless are completely disinterested in non living creatures, but what are they drawn to? Beings that possess hearts. So, that's how they increase their numbers: by absorbing, or extracting – collecting – hearts from living beings. What results from this are additional Heartless."

The announcement submerged the room into silence. Neither Even or Braig could form a proper response to the young man's insights. The pair exchanged long glances before turning their gazes to Xehanort, the young man's face twisting in anticipation of some sort of verbal acknowledgment.

Finally sighing, Even threw his hands down at the sides of his body, "I will forever be amazed how you can take the letter A and spell the word 'Alphabet' without having a bloody clue what the hell all the other letters in the alphabet actually are."

Xehanort's shoulders fell, as did his expression, slightly unimpressed with the eldest scientist's analogy.

"How much of this can you prove?" Even tacked on to his initial statement.

"Very… little of it," Xehanort reluctantly stated, nearly grumbling the response, "but every bone in my body tells me that I'm going in the right direction. That I am _correct_," he shook his head, was there any way to explain how comfortable he felt with the hypothesis? There was everything to doubt him, no reason to believe that the idea was remotely right, and no hard evidence to confirm any of it. But, stronger than all of that, was an overpowering gut feeling – a barely-conscious understanding of it all, and there was nothing that could dissuade him, "Trust me with this. Give me time and I'll prove my hypothesis."

Braig cut the room's tension with a laugh, "Why don't we just ask them what they are, then half our problem is solved."

"You are an idiot," snarled Even.

"Hey, be nice," the senior apprentice's words rolled off Braig's shoulders, "I think first we should find a way to communicate with them, find out what level of intelligence they have and just their over all purpose in existence is. Though, I do have to agree with my fine colleague here," his hand came down on Even's shoulder as the old man snorted, "that we need a bit more to go on. Yes? Good. Let's go for dinner."

Xehanort frowned, not given the option of answering the question poised to him, "I think first I'm just going to take a look into everything downst—"

"No," breaking away from Even who'd already started towards the door, Braig collected Xehanort by his upper left arm, "your day is a write off, your staff manned the fort in your absence, all is quiet on the battle front, just take the rest of the day to yourself and start tomorrow off on the right foot. We don't need you knocking yourself out of sorts."

"Well…" Xehanort began to protest, "I should just really check things out with my own—"

"Do as your told, Mister," Even cut in, turning a flat, unimpressed stare over his shoulder to the two men junior to him, "listen to your piers, I'm old enough that I can still tell you that much, at least."

Braig blinked at the support, dawning a toothy grin as his grip tightened on Xehanort's arm, "See, you're out numbered."

"Fine, I surrender," Xehanort lifted his hands in concession, "I haven't had anything to eat today anyways."

"Atta boy," slapping Xehanort on the back, Braig ushered the young man out past Even, who locked the study door in the trios wake.

Braig kept an effortless conversation going, mostly with himself, as the threesome wandered further away from a place everyone struggled to forget. Participation in Braig's chatter felt forced at best as everyone toiled in their own streams of thought. There was too much to think about, freedom of thought didn't always feel appropriate – but, unlike most others in the group, Braig's approach to life had always been carefree that way.

Eventually emerging at center stage at the Postern, the chatter wound down.

"Sometime next week none of you are getting away this easily," Braig wagged a finger, turning away from his companions and calling over his shoulder, "my wife wants everyone over for dinner and cocktails sometime in the near future. Don't waste your time thinking up an excuse, I won't accept it."

Even waved a dismissive hand while Xehanort shook his head, laughing his reply.

The charismatic presence went his own way, and Xehanort turned his way towards the castle, retracing the panicked steps he'd leapt through barely a half hour earlier, Even following in stride. The elder man did not have to say a word to make his presence known, though it was a little out of character for his voice to be so absent. The two walked a similar path around the complex, eventually catching a glimpse of the divergence in the walkway where they would separate.

"You're certain today had nothing to do with the experiments?" Even's flat, demanding voice finally came out.

Xehanort sighed, a grin showing its presence on his face, "Is that what's kept you quiet?"

"Partially," the senior apprentice grumbled, "I've made it no secret to you that I think your existence is a walking mystery that should be solved. Now I finally have the chance to dig into it a little and I have a Y-factor coming in to play because of that zoo in the basement."

"I'm sorry you're disappointed," Xehanort pulled to a stop, "if it makes you feel any better, I kind of enjoy the psychological tests, they're an easier part of my day."

Even narrowed an eye, "That's exactly what _doesn't_ make me feel better. I'm a little... hm..."

"Concerned?" Xehanort finished.

The elder of the two shrugged his shoulders, "That's a little too strong for it, but it'll suffice. I'd like it if tomorrow you show up on time and let me put your nose to the grindstone for a few hours, that should shake things up a bit."

The guinea pig of an apprentice shrugged his shoulders, not arguing the invite.

"Good," Even nodded, "get some dinner then some more sleep. Come and see me for nine, understand?"

"Roger," Xehanort's hand came to his forehead in salute, standing firm as the elder rolled his eyes and took his own path away from the castle.

Letting his shoulders fall as he exhaled, soon dropping a loose arm to his side, Xehanort watched Even vanish from his sights. Eventually, two hands slipped into two lab coat pockets, and the scientist made his way back into a castle he had hastily exited a short while ago. Racking his brain, Xehanort tried to piece together the last twenty-four hours once again. It didn't feel like the evening, his internal clock was out of sync with this accidental 'nap' that tossed his day out the window. And then there was everything that had led up to the cause for it. His basement. His glorious, wondrous, hideous basement.

What on earth was so compelling about it? Was there really active darkness down there? How in the world would he prove it?

At the middle of a case of stairs Xehanort had begun to ascend, he stopped. His eyes carried back along the path he'd walked.

There was that curiosity again. His mind wouldn't let it go, he craved it – all the answers. Xehanort wanted to find the remote control to his life, and fast-forward to the end because the build up along the way was tantalizing his thoughts relentlessly.

"Xehanort."

He froze. Not having expected it, the call of his own name was startling enough. But this was different.

It was that voice. That voice Xehanort expected Master Ansem to address him with once in a while, but the old man seemed to never use. It was the sound that made sons weak at the knees when their father's called their name. Though he'd imagined it, and occasionally he thought he deserved it, Xehanort did not believe he'd ever heard Master Ansem's tone quite like _that_ before.

Suddenly feeling the eyes of the castle attendants fall upon him, Xehanort looked up to the top of the staircase, eyes wide. At the top of the incline stood his Master, the man's expression much more downtrodden than his voice had been.

What was going on?

It was a slow, visual exchange – Xehanort eyeing the elder sage, wondering just what had ignited this moment. A fire suddenly exploded under a dreadful thought. Did the master know something? Did he find something? Was he caught? It couldn't be, he'd been so careful. His heart and mind raced in fear.

Endless seconds crawled by before his eyes flickered from the gaze of Ansem to what his master gripped in his left hand. Nearly stumbling back down the stairs, Xehanort's gasp was silent at the moment he realized what was going on. The apprentice's hands flew out of his pockets and his body motioned as though he were going to fly up the stairs, but the young man could not move beneath a very gripping set of eyes.

"Kairi…"

The tiny girl smiled at the sound of her name, her hand held tightly by her grandfather's.

Xehanort couldn't believe himself; he had abandoned the toddler without a second thought. Where was his mind? His thoughts had gripped the tantalizing darkness and nothing seemed significant anymore. At no point did he even realize what he had done – she had instantly become irrelevant.

"Xehanort, would you come upstairs, please. I'd like to talk with you for a bit."

He could find nothing to say, the apprentice could only close his eyes and lowered his head. The eyes of the staff that had been watching the three returned to their duties as though this stitch in time had never occurred.

Pulling his feet, Xehanort returned to the ascension of the staircase. The disappointment had been prevalent in his master's eyes and he'd never wanted to bear witness to it. The young man cursed himself for adding such a heavy load to his already burdened shoulders.

Slowly he became aware of a black stain that dirtied his conscience. Xehanort tried to shake it as he walked, but it would not fall away. So, if the thought would not let him be, then his only other option was to try to ignore it.

'It's only Kairi, this could be much worse.'

Without remorse, his own voice carrying that message would not be silent. It was louder than the bubbling child that chattered to her grandfather as the two grown men walked in silence.

* * *

**To Be Continued...**

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Just a thought I have on the castle in Radiant Garden - since Xehanort is running in and out. I'm going with the idea that the castle was in a slightly or fairly different state than the one we're familiar with. The world was overrun by darkness, and was therefore ruined because of it. I would assume that the original layout around the castle would reflect something more than what has been presented thus far in the games. I'm taking a few creative liberties with that.


	5. The Unlocked Door

**Darkness in Zero**

**Chapter 5 – The Unlocked Door**

**

* * *

**Radiant Garden had such unique construction, Xehanort thought, how else could you tuck away so much population in one space?

It had been a long time since he'd come out and simply gazed off into the city. It felt as though he were committing a sin by not doing anything productive. There was so much he kept himself shut away doing, and so much that needed to be done. While he wasn't paying attention, he'd drifted out of contact with a number of friends and no longer socialized with Ansem and his family like he'd once done. The void these associations left in him became occupied by his laboratory interests and he never really noticed the disappearance of them from his life.

However, presented to him on this day was a lively city. He admired the endless energy it gave off and he felt like he could channel it into some force to drive him harder.

Xehanort grinned; like he needed more energy to do what he was doing. His tasks kept him energized, not to mention enthralled.

And for tonight, the scientist had handed himself a monumental task…

But then there was this city to look at again. He was always amazed when everyone, from toddler to elder, would come out for the Summer Festival and fill the streets to capacity. The shops would have their week long sales and the streets from one end to the other became decorated with lanterns, lights and streamers. Little booths seemed to pop up everywhere, offering anything from balloon animals to dinner coupons if you could guess the roll of a dice.

'Welcome to summer,' announced Ansem the Wise as the fire crackers sounded at noon on that Wednesday morning beneath a crystal clear sky. Xehanort could still hear the energy of the people as they rang out in response.

It was puzzling to think about how a place with so much energy and life contained so many weak and impure hearts. Too bad that borrowing a person who displayed signs of a quality heart would require significant effort. That was too much of an obstacle at this point.

And yes, Xehanort rationalized, it was all 'borrowing'. His research and efforts would lead him to a solution that could reconstruct a heart; even if it was from nothing. All of these people, not only were their unknowing sacrifices not in vain, they were not finite either. But, he was running out of people that could be slipped under the radar…

His progression through the city was suddenly stopped. Nearly stumbling back into the person behind him, Xehanort startled at the unidentified object suddenly thrust under his nose.

"You surfaced!"

"Huh?" Xehanort's eyes came to focus on the stick of pale blue ice cream shoved in his face before his gaze turned to the origin of the voice.

"I almost didn't recognize you," Isa narrowed a playful eye at his companion, "I can't tell how old you're growing since your hair's grey already."

Xehanort rolled his eyes, "Very funny." Deliberately bumping his friend to get him moving with the flow of human traffic, the pair kept shoulder to shoulder in the bustling streets, "I feel like a broken record telling everyone I've been busy."

"I'm sure you do," Isa shook his head, gnawing on the corner of the frozen bar in his left hand, "once upon a time I wanted to know where you'd come from, now all I have on my mind is where you've gone."

Sighing, Xehanort shook his head and dug his right fist into the shoulder of the friend at his side, "Of all people I'd like to lay off on me, can't you be one of them?"

Isa gave the younger man a curious look, wishing that Xehanort's response would have actually done more to answer the question than elude it, "I was actually being serious. I'm worried about you. All your friends are worried in some way or another. Whatever you're doing, it seems like it's sucking you away."

Looking into the crowds of people, Xehanort glanced over the expressions of the people surrounding them – each person wrapped up in their own little world of excitement from this day. Grabbing Isa at his upper arm, he pulled his friend through the crowds of wanderers, slipping into a pocket void of people near the castle's perimeter.

"Would it make you and everyone else feel better if I told you that I'm completely delighted by what I'm wrapped up in?" the scientist blurted, "it's so exciting and I don't want to stop."

Isa folded his arms in question, "You're enjoying yourself?"

Xehanort opened his mouth to speak, only to find himself hesitant to provide a response. The first time, his lips moved but no sound emerged, the second time his voice came tumbling out drenched in excitement.

"Yes, I am!"

"Seriously Xehanort," Isa shook his head, taking the back of his hand and lightly tapping it against the side of his friend's face, "isn't there anything you can just drop me a lead on?"

Raising his hands in defense, Xehanort continued to deny Isa the information he desired, "It's all Top Secret. I swear. But everything… _everything_ we're doing is for the betterment of everyone here in Radiant Garden," the young scientist straightened his coat, "it's top secret to protect the people, and in the end everyone will be more safe than they were in the first place. That's the ultimate goal. Trust me on this!"

"You want me to blindly trust you?" The questioning look Isa carried only deepened the more Xehanort spoke, as did his tone, "What do we need protection from?"

"Nothing!" the younger man jumped on the defensive, "and I plan to keep it that way!"

Isa finally gave up his pursuit of information. He should have known better to begin with, Xehanort was too stubborn once he set his mind on something to negotiate around it, "Fine, since the world is safe tonight, how about joining the rest of us in the Safe World for some barbeque before hitting the tavern? The best cooking in town hits the streets tonight."

"I… I can't Isa, I'm sorry," Xehanort began to back himself out of obligating himself to anything. He gestured ahead to the deck of the Postern, beneath which the labs were buried, "I have something I need to monitor fairly shortly."

"Pardon me?" Isa did not mean to influx as much frustration in his voice as he did, "tonight's the night everyone is out in the town, even Master Ansem and his wife. There is an unofficial 'night off work' decree. Braig and his brother are throwing a huge swing down at the tavern and all of you mad scientists were invited – _and_ said to be attending. Does he know you're ditching?"

An exasperated tone entered Xehanort's voice in response to Isa's outburst, "No, but I didn't want to bog them down with what I was doing. They wouldn't go if I didn't say Yes, so I said yes, but I didn't plan on actually going, okay? Don't lecture me about it like you're my mother."

"How about I sick Ansem's wife on you," Isa challenged.

"She's not my mother either," came the snippy reply.

Set back by the response, Isa's left hand twitched as he tried not to reach out and grab his friend by to throat so he could slap some sense into him, "You certainly use to show her a lot more respect than that. You use to show everyone else a lot more respect as well. It seems you and your work are far more important than anything out beneath the sun."

"It's too important right now and tonight is the perfect night for all this. You don't understand how everything is now, so back off," abruptly ending the conversation, Xehanort turned looking to make his way back into the crowd and wind his way towards the Postern.

"What the hell…" Isa slapped a hand over his own head, crunching up a handful of hair in the process, "do whatever the hell you want. Just say the word and I'll stop giving a damn too."

Isa's call wasn't picked up by Xehanort, his voice was lost in the myriad of other sounds falling together in the crowds of people. Xehanort shut his ears to the noise; his mind had more important things to focus on.

Yes, this day would be perfect, and the scientist made his way back to his domain.

Every man, woman and child… all of his co-workers, even his master… everyone was out wrapped up in the excitement of life. They'd be out in the day's sun and night's moon doing whatever their heart desired. A skeleton crew of attendants would be on hand in the castle, an easy bunch to skitter around – it would be like sneaking in and out at some ungodly hour long past midnight; which was very easy to do as long as one understood the system.

Tonight, Person X would ask Person Y, 'where is Xehanort?' and if he wasn't even out and about, no one would be any wiser. He could simply have disappeared into the madness of an exciting evening; where anyplace from the eastern wall to western wall was a place to be.

Yet again, locked away in the basement of the castle, in a room known only to him and five others, Xehanort made sure he was the only one present, waiting as the merciless clock sped along. His gaze held forwards to the heavy doors of a chamber that no longer felt like a Container of Sins. Playing with the devil's toys for so long would make anyone immune to the effects.

He was still wary of it though, thus why he still stood in the room unmoving.

"I'll do this…" and as long as he did it alone, no one would take his head off.

_Stop thinking about it, stop delaying over it, stop hesitating with obstacles – just go. At any point has your intuition been wrong, Xehanort? No, it's been frighteningly correct. Your judgment has been next to absolute. Your hypotheses have come without flaws or contradictions. Why would this be any different?_

Xehanort worked on coaxing himself forwards.

He had to know, it was such a tantalizing question. What would be the behaviour of these little Heartless creatures outside of their confine?

"Just take one," Xehanort spoke to himself, dismissing Ienzo's seal around the chamber that they all had been so careful not to ever release.

There were so many in there now; it was at a point where another chamber would be needed – and they were working on that. Opening the door was too dangerous and all access to the chamber was now top-down. No one dared to even release the seal, there were simply too many to deal with and they could easily slip out from beneath the door; however, that was exactly what Xehanort wanted one to do tonight.

The seal would only be down long enough to let one wiggle out from beneath the door frame, and then go immediately back up.

Each second that ticked away on the wristwatch he wore rang out, carrying on for what felt like eternity. Xehanort found that he had unknowingly slipped his hind-side onto the console ledge, his hands and fingers poised to reseal the chamber while his feet dangled over the linoleum floor. He wanted to laugh at himself – yes these creatures could bond with the floor, but this floor was white and they were black, it would not be as though one could sneak up on him. Touching a foot to the ground again, his gaze remained locked to the space where the huge slab door met the floor.

Why couldn't they sense that the barrier was down? Couldn't they sense his heart? Xehanort had essentially set himself up as luring bait.

The scientist's hand suddenly slammed down against the seal. His desired escapee had moved out from within the chamber much faster than he'd seen any of the shadows move before. Xehanort's eyebrow twitched at the first insight of knowledge – the chamber _was_ too confining for them. In the open, the Heartless were much more agile.

He hadn't expected his rewards to come so quickly.

The black shadow on the floor moved fluidly, so much more so than the creatures seemed to move while in full form. Xehanort quickly surmised that the shadow form must be comfortable for them and he figured it was fitting, considering that they were shadows of other existences. Sharply, he staggered away from the control panel he'd occupied as the Heartless made its way closer to him. Stumbling around a console stand, the scientist watched with wide eyes as the creature slipped over the areas his feet had covered. As predicted, it was following him around.

Without warning, the shadows advance stopped. Xehanort gave the creature a wary eye as it suddenly rose from the ground to take shape. His heart leapt to his throat in anticipation for what it would do next. Standing in silence, the scientist watched like a fascinated child as the creature seemed to bobble around in one spot as though it were lost.

_Do something_, Xehanort wished of the creature, his mouth hanging open as he waited. His heart pounded relentlessly causing his cheeks to burn and fingertips to feel numb. No hand came up to wipe the thin stream of perspiration that had come down from his temple and trailed along his jaw line.

The Heartless kept Xehanort frozen in his place as the creature continued to rock around in one place, momentarily stopping to shine its glowing eyes back into the scientist's gaze.

The man's brow came together slowly as the creature's antennae appeared to come under control. Until then, every part of the creature's body had simply flopped around, but the antennae movements stiffened and began to shift in a distinct pattern.

Scrambling out from beyond the console, Xehanort watched as the creature's attention suddenly took a dramatic shift away from him. The Heartless sloppily made its way towards the room's door. Shaking away the confusion, the man was elated to witness it wanting to strike out into the castle's underground. That had been part of the plan all along. What Xehanort couldn't explain was what was drawing its attention. The experiment was to have been controlled exclusively by him – since he was supposed to have been the only heart for the creature to seek. With that thought in mind he wondered, what on earth could it be that had the creature's attention?

The momentary thought crossed his mind that one of his associates was arriving, but that shouldn't have such a strong draw on the creature's attention, since there was a target that was far more accessible: himself.

Undisturbed, the creature exited the room. Quickly dashing to ensuring that the seal was indeed up for the remaining contents in the container, Xehanort followed after it. Fascinated, he continued to watch as the creature paid no mind to his existence and embarked on its own journey through the castle's deep basement.

Initially, Xehanorts trail behind the Heartless was handled as though he were a stalker not wanting to be caught, but the longer the creature wobbled along, the more Xehanort realized that his presence was the furthest thing from its mind. The Heartless travelled down an endless ramp that Ienzo and Eleus had begun to install, its antennae vibrations creating a hum in the air. Cautiously, Xehanort followed; he had not travelled down into the expansion that they had been installing. The layout of the underground was still crude and far from finished. It felt more like travelling through a mine shaft than anything else. There'd soon be finished walls to take care of this, however.

Barely able to see where the black creature was heading in the darkness, Xehanort searched his pockets for a match, but came up with nothing. Nearly losing sight of the Heartless he followed, the man scrambled as the creature tucked itself into a dark turn-out within the construction.

As he made the rounds to follow his specimen, Xehanort stuttered in his steps, coming to a startling realization: a light source had appeared.

"… Hello?" he'd hesitated calling out, but in the end received the expected response – silence.

The light source did not come from a follower of any sort, since it illuminated from up ahead. Glancing around, Xehanort wasn't about to let any sort of mystery stop this journey.

Tightening his expression, Xehanort slipped beyond the tightened areas of construction equipment and found himself in an opening. His arms slowly came to hang limp at his sides as he stared forwards in wonder. A door, emanating a faint light, stood embedded in the rock wall at the end of the cavern. At the foot of this door sat his little Heartless, like a young puppy impatiently wanting to be let outside. He watched as the creature vibrated, desperately twitching at the door's step.

_Why was there a door here? Why had no one in the construction efforts mentioned it? Where was its faint light source coming from?_ Xehanort glanced around the area, wondering if anything might disclose answers. _Why was the Heartless drawn to it? What was the meaning of the exaggerated keyhole?_

Stepping forwards, no longer concerned with the Heartless' presence, Xehanort leaned in to examine the doorway. Feeling somewhat childish, he attempted to see what was beyond the door by peering through the keyhole – but nothing could be seen. Once again, he glanced down again to the twitching Heartless. The creature seemed to desire what was beyond the door, paying absolutely not attention to him. Cautiously, Xehanort took hold of the door's handle.

The knob turned with ease.

His gaze snapped continuously between the door and little creature, his mind running wild with so many thoughts, in the end he could focus on nothing. The scientist discarded any hesitations and allowed curiousity to carry his actions. With little effort, he pulled open the door.

Before anything could be realized, the little heartless escaped into the world beyond.

It was strange, Xehanort thought while trapped in a frozen moment in time, how the little creature moved forwards so easily while he could only stand there, blown back by a sudden escape of energy. It didn't throw him off his feet or knock him away; for as long as the release of energy pressure lasted, all it did was hold him away.

What an overwhelming, indescribable sensation this was…

As his hair settled around his shoulders and lab coat came to rest around his sides once more, the man's hand slipped away from the knob and came to hang dead at his side.

Beyond the door boiled a massive core of energy that radiated stronger than the sun on the worst of days. The fact it was frightening meant nothing; what meant everything was the mystifying aura it strangled Xehanort with. Taking a staggering step closer to the opening, Xehanort's posture began to degrade as he stumbled ahead and slouched forwards, pushing his wide eyes face first towards the drawing energy.

"Awesome," he murmured.

_What was it? Where did it come from? What created it? What caused it to give off such an overpowering radiation? _

Something kept Xehanort from falling forwards into the bubbling energy abyss beyond the doorframe. His knees quickly buckled and he found himself on the ground looking lost into the power – his mind suddenly entangled in what felt like a drunken stupor. None of his thoughts seemed to run straight and he couldn't begin to understand how he could clearly see what some of the fragmented ideas meant. For some reason, he felt like laughing.

"Xehanort"

A foreign voice?

He shook it from his mind, whatever it was. The energy filled him to the brim and there was no room for anything else. What lay beyond the door had an untouchable aura that he could find no powerful adjective to correctly describe.

"Come on."

Noisy foreign voice again.

This time, the noise came with a physical force, and it pulled him away from the source of this energy, dumping him flat on his back against the cold rock floor. His eyes rolled to the side, catching the last glimpse of the core before the door was shut.

"Xehanort!" it was the first time he'd registered the influx of emotion in the voice, the other times it had come, all he'd heard was words, "come on, snap out of it!"

A hand grabbed the scientist by the collar of his shirt, hauling him up from the ground.

"Isa?" one of his bundles of thoughts recognized the voice.

Something wasn't right. Something was seriously wrong. Xehanort found himself struggling to identify what it was. He needed to gather himself, and quickly. The power of the energy had completely scrambled and reorganized all of his thoughts. Fighting desperately to snap out of the high, a panic set into his tone.

"_ISA_!?" this wasn't right at all, "what… how did you?"

Xehanort desperately felt like he should find some way to lash out in some more violent and vulgar manner towards the intruder, but something in his mindset had been set so ajar he couldn't compose himself well enough to do so.

"What the hell was all this?" the friend demanded, much more able to compose himself and ward away the fears that had gripped him until then.

"Why are you here!?" Xehanort hollered, pushing the man's assistance away, "you can't be here."

"It's a little late for that," Isa narrowed an eye, grabbing his unsteady friend by the upper arm.

Xehanort stood a moment against the assisting clutch that had him. The less he moved, the quicker his head seemed to clear. He hadn't realized it until then how out of breath he was. What was it again in that energy core that caused his system to be thrown so off balance? He thought he'd seen that thought strand at some point. Turning sharply out of Isa's grasp, nearly throwing himself off balance again, Xehanort lurched away, "The door!?"

His movements did not get him far. Freezing, both men stood in sudden silence, looking at the blackened rock where the door no longer stood.

"What the hell, it's gone!" Isa blurted.

Swinging around like an elder, drunken soldier, Xehanort's fists grabbed handfuls of his companion's shirt, drawing the man in to face him nose to nose, "Do you realize what you've done? Why are you here? How did you get down here?"

Isa's response was hollow, "A big glowing door with a massive power core and a little black creature all just vanished and you're more worried about me?"

"Answer me…" Xehanort's voice shook.

Isa pushed his friend back, giving a little distance between himself and the snarling man, "I came after you to apologize for my earlier remarks. Seeing as I'm the elder of the two of us, I figured I'd show you up and be the more mature one." He watched curiously as his words didn't seem to give Xehanort any reason to back down, "I've been in the studies before so it's not like I don't know my way around, but I was a little surprised to actually witness you go down the stairs, then not be able to find you once I'd arrived. So, I went looking for something 'more'."

Shaking his head over what felt like unbelievable actions, Xehanort threw his voice out in frustration, "The labs are marked as off limits. Classified. Top Secret. No foreign entrants because all the experiments are so sensitive!"

Narrowing his eyes, Isa watched his friend attempt to grapple with the situation in the most uncollected manner he had ever seen him, "It was quite the trick to get in, honestly. I can't imagine Master Ansem has anything to do with this, it doesn't fit him."

The comment finally stopped Xehanort and his movements. Slowly the younger man straightened himself, his gaze not carrying over to Isa.

"I figured as much," Isa sighed, glancing back towards the wall where the door had once been. He considered the idea for a moment: was his curiousity even worth it? Did he really want to find out what he had just witnessed? Xehanort may have been right to an extent; did he realize what he'd gotten himself into? Silently, he calculated his next course of action before going forwards once again, "what the hell were you doing?"

"Long story," Xehanort grumbled shoving his hands into his lab coat pockets like a spoilt child. He was at a loss to describe feelings that had engulfed him – he was beyond words for how infuriated he was at his friend, "how long have you been down here?"

"Since you and that little black thing scooted out from one of the rooms. I was up around the corner at the top end of the hall," Isa said, relaying an honest answer.

Sighing, Xehanort's hands charged through the hair on his head, finally gripping tight against his scalp. He wished he could find the strength in either one of his arms to turn around and rush his fist into Isa's jaw.

"Xehanort…"

Through narrowed eyes, he finally turned his attention to his friend.

"… You nearly fell through that door," his words came out flat and abrupt, "if I hadn't grabbed you, you would have gone in."

Still filtering out the sensation, and trying to come to grips with how out of sorts his head felt, Xehanort glanced back to the empty wall space, "It was fascinating, wasn't it?"

"What was it?" Reaching out, Isa again took Xehanort at the shoulder, giving his friend a shake, "You opened that door and it scared the living shit out of me. All you did was stand there. I thought it had petrified you."

Raising his brow, Xehanort's mind repainted the image of the sealed door on the wall's empty canvas, "It didn't frighten me."

"And then you stumbled towards it…" Isa's attempt to coax the 'whys' out of Xehanort was proving futile.

Tightening his expression, Xehanort stepped away from Isa, moving towards the empty space in the wall. He wasn't listening. His hand came to rest on the cold, damp, dark grey clay. Sliding his hand over the wall where the door once was, he slowly crouched down, trailing his fingertips into the dust along the ground. Taking a handful of sediment into his hands, he rose to his feet, letting the shards and dust trickle through his finger tips.

_It didn't frighten me at all…_

Tipping his hand to dump the rest of the dirt back to the ground, Xehanort turned back to Isa, brushing his hand off on his lab coat. "It felt very familiar," his gaze looked back into the concerned expression Isa responded with, "and I don't know why."

Silence eclipsed the cavern the two men occupied. Xehanort stood in the opened door's wake, his body draining away the sensation that he would have given anything to understand. He could tell by Isa's clear and concise reactions that whatever he had felt, it was not the same thing his friend had – even though they had both witnessed the same event. Was there a reason for the differences? It was sort of unsettling, though mostly exciting, to think about how he was not turned off by this occurrence beyond a secret door. Even more curious than that, why were the after effects so severe on his mindset, whereas Isa showed no instability from it at all.

"You said you wanted me to trust you."

Xehanort refocused his attention to Isa.

"So, if you want me to trust you and your insane actions, don't forget that trust goes both ways," the man finally challenged Xehanort's motives, using the silence as a time to carefully compose his words, "if you want me to trust you, you need to show me that you trust me with what you're doing."

The scientist lifted his gaze up, wondering if he could still draw a line.

"Tell me something, anything."

Casting his gaze off in thought, Xehanort ground his teeth as he contemplated the situation. For some reason, sharing his work with Isa did not carry the mass amount of sheer terror that disclosing his work to Master Ansem carried. But, if he were to disclose anything, would there be any place left to draw the line…

Perhaps not.

At the time Isa had entered the facilities, the sun still shone brightly over the cityscape. Children were still out with their parents, and the world was still in full swing. The contrast was like light and dark between the world above and the world below. By the time the two men finally emerged from the underground, although night had set it, the people and town's radiance was still a startling contrast to the world Xehanort had nurtured below.

"It feels… powerful. Everyone's radiance, that is," beneath the night's sky, Isa stood atop Master Ansem's castle staircase next to Xehanort, both sets of eyes looked into the lantern-lit streets bustling with life and excitement, "how can our hearts really be that weak?"

"Frightening isn't it? Not one of us has a heart free from darkness," Xehanort's voice came out smooth, sweeping over the landscape of the world, only heard by Isa, "you can understand, can't you, just how dangerous the darkness is? And, if darkness ever chose to assert itself, we're no stronger than brittle autumn leaves."

Grinning slightly, and huffing away a faint chuckle, he couldn't argue what his friend said, "You're right, that is frightening."

"So," the excitement of life burst back into his voice as Xehanort's hands came down on his hips, "I'm going to protect everyone here from it, even if Master Ansem approves of it or not."

Barely able to process the volume of information Xehanort had sent his way in mere hours, the one thing Isa couldn't argue with, was that there was a good reason to keep his friend's information out of the public's mind, "Living in ignorance may be the safest way to live for now. I can't imagine some people living in fear of that sort of enemy. It would be overwhelming."

A sly, thirsty grin made its way into Xehanort's expression, "I think it's time you said it!"

His expression falling, Isa looked back at his companion, not certain what he meant, "Say what?"

"You know," the man's expression grew devilish.

"Oh for goodness sake," Isa exhaled, laughing at the demand Xehanort had given him, "very well: I was wrong and you were ri—"

"Tha—" although he'd moved to fold his arms in triumph, hearing Isa's voice trail off ended up leaving the younger man standing somewhat awkward. He glanced to his friend, wondering why he had drifted off, but the man's attention was drawn to the heavens. Xehanort quickly curved his gaze upwards, following the direction Isa had taken his focus.

Not only did the sky now carry both men's attention, but soon it enveloped the township as well. The sky had lit up with not only one, not only a handful, but what looked like hundreds of shooting stars. The city's chatter exploded and the noise bounced around in the air for a few moments before everything came to hush. Not all the stars appeared to burn up in the atmosphere and the fragments crashed down to the earth beyond the city limits. But, those occurrences seemed to concern no one, everyone's attention held focused on the stunning display of lights in the night's sky – it was a spectacular event.

"Isa…" Xehanort tightened his expression, carefully observing the spectacle above. There was that feeling again, that something wasn't quite right. This time, the sensation wasn't generated by how out of sorts he felt, but by how familiar the event in the sky felt. It carried the same feeling of familiarity that he'd felt standing in front of the door. He could somewhat identify the sensation, and it was far too surreal; like witnessing a waking dream, but having no idea what the dream had really been about, "… for now, don't bring up the door to anyone."

"You're expecting someone to actually believe me if I told them?" Isa's shoulders fell, looking up to Xehanort as though he'd lost his mind.

Finally straightening his posture, holding his gaze to the sky, he responded, "Five… no, six 'someones' might believe you."

"Oh," Isa turned his attention back to the sky, now realizing what he'd meant by the statement, "I think there'd be too much trouble for both you and I if it were brought up. Consider your escapade today something that I'll hold in confidence."

The devilish grin that Xehanort had taken on reentered his expression while he continued to watch the sky come crashing down around them, "Thank you."

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**To Be Continued…**

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Author's Note:

No notes, really, just that I wish insights would stop popping up that changed how I view the progression of the story. It makes this more challenging LOL (but I like a challenge!).


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